Evaluation of Gender Mainstreaming

Initiatives in Chad

Full Report

Oxfam GB Programme Evaluation

November 2005

Commissioned by: Oxfam GB

Evaluators: Aggie Kalungu-Banda
 List of Acronyms

HD Humanitarian Department
PIP Programme Implementation Plan
HSP Humanitarian Support Personnel
SGBV Sexual Gender Based Violence
SECADEV Secours Catholique et Developpement
CELIAF Cellule de Liaison et dInformation des Associations Feminines
AFJT Association des Femmes Jurist Tchad
IRC International Rescue Committee
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
WFP World Food Programme
SCF Save the Children Fund
IFRC International Federation of Red Cross
CRS Catholic Relief Services
PHP Public Health Promoter
UNICEF United Nations International Children Education Fund

IMC International Medical Corps

ACTED Agence dAide a la Cooperation Technique Et au
Developpment
MSF Medecins Sans Frontieres
IP Implementing Partner
CPM Country Programme Manager
HDLT Humanitarian Department Leadership Team
AU African Union
JRS Jesuit Refugee Service
WCRWC Womens Commission for Refugee Women and Children
NCA Norwegian Church Aid
INGO International Non Governmental Organisation
GBV Gender Based Violence
HR Human Resource

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 Executive Summary

1. Background and context

Gender mainstreaming is one of Oxfam GB corporate priorities. Oxfam GB defines

gender mainstreaming as a process of ensuring that all our work, and the way we do
it, contributes to gender equality by transforming the balance of power between the
women and men. The Oxfam GB Gender policy that was adopted in 1993 and updated
in 2004 states among the strategies that Oxfam GB will ensure that all emergency and
development responses incorporate a gender perspective in assessment, planning,
implementation and evaluation.

In line with the above in May 2004 when the Humanitarian Department (HD)
approved the Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) for response to the emergency
situation in Chad there was fear of gender being lost in the efforts to scale up. To this
end the HD Director recommended the deployment of a Humanitarian Support
Personnel (HSP) Gender and Representation Adviser. The actual presence of a
Gender Advisor in the team was seen as one of the ways of giving support to staff in
ensuring that gender was mainstreamed in the programme.

Following a suggestion made by the HD, a Gender Advisor was recruited for the
programme from October 2004 to April 2005. The Gender Advisors End of Mission
report (see appendix 5) states that the activities for the initial period, October 2004 to
April 2005, included:

Training of all Oxfam staff on the Code of Conduct

Training in gender awareness and analysis for Oxfam staff and partners
Gender sensitisation meetings in the camps
A national workshop on gender-based violence

Activities for the period July 2005 to October 2005 according to the Gender Advisors
Terms of Reference were to focus on:

Monitoring the implementation of the gender mainstreaming work of staff

and partners
Conducting gender awareness training for new staff, including staff in the
Host Community Programme
Collaborating with Intermn Oxfam on the Sexual Gender-based Violence
(SGBV) National Policy Formulation Programme and gender training of new
Intermn staff
Collaborating with UNHCR on the promotion of gender mainstreaming in all
humanitarian interventions

This internal review is therefore intended to review all the gender work that has been
carried out in Chad (October 2004 to October 2005), so as to draw out lessons about
good practice for gender mainstreaming that can be shared with other humanitarian
programmes and used to inform future programmes.

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2. Assessment Criteria

The focus of interest (see appendix 4) was to find out:

Staffs and partners understanding of gender.
What staff and partners had learnt through the gender trainings held.
The practical steps staff and partners were taking to mainstream gender into
the programme.
Staff and partners views on the challenges to addressing gender inequality in
the programme.
The support staff and partners needed from Oxfam GB to ensure that their
efforts in mainstreaming gender in their work and personal lives were
sustained.
Which additional benefits the project beneficiaries received through the work
of the Gender Advisor

3. Methodology

Information was mainly gathered through holding focus group discussions, direct
observations, and individual and group interviews. A total of eleven focus group
discussions were held. Four were with the Oxfam GB national staff in Abeche,
Guereda, Hadjer Hadid and Gaga (see appendix 4 for a list of respondents). Five of
the eleven focus group discussions were held with refugee women and men in
Kounoungou, Gaga and Am Nabak. The other three focus group discussions were
held with SECADEV in Guereda, CELIAF (the Coordinating Organisation for
Womens Associations) and AFJT (Organisation of Women Lawyers) in Ndjamena.
Individual and group interviews were conducted with some Oxfam GB international
staff and representatives of IRC, UNHCR, WFP, CCF, Care, IFRC, CRS and
Intermn Oxfam.

4. Findings

Gender interventions in the Chad programme were mainly done at four levels. The
first level was that of Oxfam GB staff, the second level was the refugee women, men,
and children benefiting from Oxfam programmes, the third level was local and
international partners, and the fourth was at the national level, which involved
working with the government and NGOs based in Ndjamena. The subsequent
paragraphs will highlight the findings for each level of the intervention.

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Training on the Code of Conduct for Oxfam Staff

A total of 106 staff members were trained on the Code of Conduct in the period
between November and December 2004. Only fourteen of the 106 were women of
whom four were international staff and ten 10 were national staff all in domestic
positions of cooks and cleaners (see the Gender Advisors end of mission in appendix
5). The two main contentious issues that were said to have come up in the Code of
Conduct training were related to:
age of marriage
the question as to what happens in regard to having sex with a refugee if one
had fallen in love.
All staff interviewed during the review seemed to be very aware of the Code of
Conduct.

Gender Inductions

Giving staff gender inductions was one of the activities that the Gender Advisor
focused on throughout her contract. Gender inductions were mainly done through
training workshops in the different locations where Oxfam GB was operating. As in
most humanitarian programmes, there was a high turnover of staff in the Chad
programme. In addition, most of the staff that were in the programme were working
for Oxfam GB for the first time and, therefore, very much needed the induction. The
feedback from most of the staff on the gender induction received was positive. The
training seemed to have had an impact on the attitude and behavior of some staff. For
example Haroun, a national staff member based in Guereda, said, since the training I
have decided that I will be buying firewood so that my wife does not have to walk a
long distance to go and fetch firewood and also I have started helping in looking for
water.

Participation of beneficiaries in Oxfam GB activities

The efforts made in the initial stages of the response of ensuring gender balance in all
activities was acknowledged by the public health programmes (PHP) international
staff. One of the staff in Hadjer Hadid shared the following to show that gender was
mainstreamed from the initial stages of the response:

When I came I found things were put on the ground such as having men
and women animators. Eight months ago there were13 female and 17
male animators. The number of female animators has since increased to
16. This is so because we decided to adopt an approach where we assign
one female and one male animator to carry out the public promotion
activities in each block. As I work with the women I am mindful not to
increase their already heavy workload. Some men are helping with
domestic roles such as sweeping. With the child-to-child programme
where we are trying to send messages of men and women sharing roles,
we hope the Masalit children will grow up with a different attitude. I
should say that there has been some attitude change among the men too
especially in regard to them allowing their wives to participate in the

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 programme. We are now having men come to us and say please give my
wife a job. This is the impact of the gender awareness in the camps.

Key issues from the meetings held with the beneficiaries

The main issues that the women and men raised were problems relating to their
practical needs, such as inadequate food rations, the lack of firewood and insecurity
during firewood collection, the inadequate size of their tents forcing married sons and
daughters to remain with their families, the lack of milk for their children, and the
lack of money to be able to buy meat, or indeed to give as a dowry when their
children were at marrying age (boys: around 18, girls: around 15).

Inadequate food seemed to be a burning issue. It was revealed that despite the women
doing most of the work they were the last in eating. Children and men were given first
priority. The women themselves said that even if they were pregnant or lactating, they
would only take food once everyone else had eaten. They seemed to refuse to take
priority despite their need for extra strength. Perhaps the womens resistance to be
given first priority was due to the expectations that they know their husbands have of
them, or out of fear that their disobedience would cause their husband to look for
another wife.

The challenge that Oxfam GB and other agencies working in the camps seem to have
is helping the men and women in the camps understand that addressing the unequal
gendered roles in the camp context would in some way contribute to lessening the
problems related to their practical needs. SECADEV, working with the Oxfam GB
Gender Advisor, have done a lot of gender awareness work in the camps and the
impact is beginning to show through womens participation in decision-making and
their ability to speak in public.

Issues of Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV)

The referral system of reporting SGBV cases that was put in place by UNHCR with
support from Oxfam GB was said to have been working well initially but had been
affected by the high turnover of both national and international staff. The failure of
the Chadian authorities to prosecute perpetrators of SGBV was said to be contributing
to the ineffectiveness of the SGBV referral system. It was further observed that the
capacity of security officers to interpret the penal code was very low.

Partners

Strengthening gender mainstreaming in Chad required working with other agencies.

The agencies that Oxfam GB was collaborating with included UNHCR, UNICEF,
CORD, Care, CCF, IMC, ACTED, WFP, MSF, IFRC, SECADEV, CELIAF and
AFJT. Working in close collaboration with UNHCR and UNICEF, Oxfam GB took
the lead in training staff of all partners in gender. Some representatives of the partner
organisations interviewed were of the view that the joint action on training partners at
various levels had a great impact. After the training more organisations were paying
attention to issues of gender. For instance, some organisations have started including
in the job adverts statements to encourage women to apply.

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While appreciating the role that the Gender Advisor was playing, most representatives
of other INGOs interviewed were of the view that Oxfam GB was not providing the
gender leadership, which they are known for, in coordination meetings. The inability
of Oxfam GB providing the gender leadership could be attributed to the lack of
understanding of some staff that gender mainstreaming is an organisational priority. It
was however noted that in the first six months of the response Oxfam GB staff did
make an effort to provide the gender leadership during coordination meetings.

National-level

For the first time in Chad a national workshop on gender-based violence was held and
this was attributed to the support rendered by Oxfam GB of recruiting a Gender
Advisor for the Chad response. Participants were able to learn and understand what
was going on in the camps and have access to gender materials.

Value of having a gender advisor in the team

All Oxfam GB staff and representatives of partners organisations interviewed said that
there was an added value in having a gender advisor in the team. For Oxfam GB staff,
her presence served as a reminder of the importance of ensuring that gender was
mainstreamed in the programme. One Oxfam GB staff member who had been in the
programme for 13 months had observed that during the first few months after he
arrived only men were seen attending meetings but as soon as the Gender Advisor
arrived he observed a lot of change. The Gender Advisor raised awareness among all
staff on the importance of ensuring that both men and women were participating in
the activities. The Gender Advisor also provided support to the teams by ensuring that
gender-mainstreaming indicators were developed to measure the impact of the
interventions. Using the developed indicators the staff on a monthly basis submitted
their reports to the Gender Advisor and this helped in monitoring the progress that
was being made.

Other organisations commended Oxfam GB for not only having a gender policy but
also ensuring the implementation of the policy. Through participating in the gender
trainings that were facilitated by the Gender Advisor other organisations started to pay
attention to issues of gender. For instance, after the gender training there was an
increase in the number of organisations that started to attend the Sexual Gender-Based
Violence (SGBV) coordination meetings. Many of the organisations that had not been
including statements in their job adverts to encourage women to apply started doing
so. Partner organisations were also able to share a lot of ideas regarding gender and
were able to stand together and lobby the local administration on issues of gender
equality. An example of partner organisations standing together was when the Iriba
local authorities demanded that International Non-Governmental Organisations
(INGOs) should not recruit women any more because of the Muslim religion which
did not permit the closeness of men to women.

Challenges to and gaps in gender mainstreaming

The challenges and gaps included a lack of understanding of some staff that gender
mainstreaming is an organisational priority, gender imbalance among staff, a delay in
recruiting national staff, and inadequate support from the Regional Centre and

7
Oxford. Two local staff were recruited as Gender Assistants in the last month of the
Gender Advisors contract. The Gender Advisor regretted that this happened in this
way as she was of the view that the assistants would have benefited from her support
had they been recruited much earlier.

While appreciating the constraints of achieving a gender balance among staff, there
was an assumption that the organisation was not doing enough. Oxfam GB can do
better in terms of gender and HR, observed one of the staff interviewed.

Suggestions from Oxfam GB staff and partner organisations on how Oxfam GB

can contribute to sustaining initiatives on gender mainstreaming

Gender training of trainers for national staff and refugees

More gender training for Oxfam GB staff
Gender awareness training for refugee men
Oxfam GB to identify people in partner organisations to continue with the
work started
Literacy classes for Oxfam GB staff and their partners (spouses)
Oxfam GB to continue holding the gender flag high even though difficult in
this environment

Lessons learnt

Lessons learnt from the Chad programme included among others the following:

The commitment of management to gender is key in facilitating the process of

all staff giving it the priority it deserves.
The impact of gender interventions may not show immediately, as changing
peoples attitudes is a long-term process. Therefore this is something that staff
ought to be reminded of, in order that they are not discouraged from doing
anything about the situation.
The involvement of national organisations in gender issues is important,
especially in situations like Chad where work is also to be done with host
communities.
Addressing issues of gender inequality will require financial resources and
therefore need to be adequately budgeted for.
Even in the most difficult environments it is possible to initiate the process of
addressing gender issues: what matters is the determination, commitment and
skills of staff.
Recruiting a gender advisor for the programme provides support to staff who
have not had any experience in gender.

5. Recommendations

Based on the findings of the review, below are some of the recommendations made:

Management

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Management has a responsibility to ensure that gender is given priority in the
programme. It is therefore recommended that CPMs and PMs commit themselves to
ensuring that gender is given priority by taking the following steps:

Management actively show their commitment and interest in promoting

Oxfam GBs Strategic Change Objectives, including SCO 5.1, Gender Equity,
by supporting Gender Advisors and promoting gender equity in all internal
and external intervention.
Gender Advisors are part of management teams and participate in programme
meetings to provide guidance and information on gender and related
activities.
Adequate resources are allocated to gender mainstreaming activities through
consultation with the Gender Advisor during the process of budget
preparation. Oxfam GB may want to consider a minimum figure for gender
mainstreaming.
Management should take responsibility for ensuring that there is effective
reporting on gender work. In the absence of a gender advisor, identification of
a gender focal person among senior staff is imperative.

It is understandable that humanitarian work moves at a faster speed and is heavy in

terms of workload, however despite this situation all CPMs and PMs need to have a
gender induction and gender training at the beginning of the programme to strengthen
their appreciation of gender.

Staff

All staff should have an induction and introductory training at the beginning
of the mission. This will ensure that staff have understood the concept of
gender and its approaches and are able to fully integrate gender in their
work.
All technical staff should have a reporting mechanism on gender
mainstreaming that feeds information to the sitreps and progress reports.
National staff for gender should be recruited at the same time as other staff
so that the expatriate Gender Advisor can have enough time to build their
capacity.

Humanitarian Department (HD)

When a programme is being managed by the Humanitarian Department, as

was the case in the initial stages of the response in Chad, the department
should find ways to provide continuous support to the Gender Advisor through
constant monitoring such as field trips and materials.
The Humanitarian Department should equally ensure that all CPMs and PMs
who are recruited through Oxford undergo not only a gender induction but
training on gender as well so that they get to the programme well equipped
and able to support the gender mainstreaming process.
Humanitarian Coordinators and Humanitarian Officers to request the Regional
and Country Offices to ensure that all humanitarian staff are trained in gender
within the first two months of their recruitment.

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 HD should follow up with the region on how the work on gender can be
sustained. Training of trainers of national staff in partner organisations and
some of the refugee men and women was seen by most of the agencies
interviewed as a way of sustaining the gender awareness programmes.
UNHCR was prepared to support the proposal for this programme.

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Eastern Chad Gender Review Report
1. Introduction

When the Humanitarian Department (HD) approved the Programme Implementation

Plan (PIP) in May 2004, for response to the emergency situation in Chad, there was
fear of gender being lost in the efforts to scale up. Subsequently, the HD Director
recommended the deployment of a Humanitarian Support Personnel (HSP) Gender
and Representation Adviser. The presence of a Gender Advisor in the team was seen
as one of the ways of giving support to staff in ensuring that gender was
mainstreamed in the programme.

The team in Chad accepted the recommendation of the deployment of the HSP
Gender and Representation Advisor and made suggestions as to how the support
could be given. Due to the pressure that the team in Chad was undergoing as a result
of the scale up, it was suggested that in the short-term the HSP Gender Advisor, who
was in Oxford, ensured that time was allocated for induction on gender mainstreaming
for all staff that were going to Chad and passing through Oxford. The HSP Gender
and Representation Advisor was to undertake a field visit to assess how staff were
integrating gender into their work.

Support was given to the Chad team as suggested. Most of the international staff
recruited for the programme who passed through Oxford had a gender induction and
in August 2004 the HSP Gender and Representation Advisor undertook a field visit
(see appendix 1). The review took into consideration the findings of the final report by
the UNHCR Gender Expert on Gender and Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV)
and Oxfam GBs Protection Advisors report on the Political and Protection Analysis.
The overall impression during the field visit in regard to gender mainstreaming was
that:
Efforts were being made, and that there was a strong will to integrate gender
issues in the programme.
Some staff lacked the confidence and skills to address gender issues and
needed further training and support.
Oxfam GB staff faced the challenge of ensuring that the voices of women
were heard. Even though women were represented on committees they lacked
the confidence to speak out. Other gender issues in the camps included the
following:
Lack of counselling facilities for women who had been victims of rape and/or
subjected to watching their children being raped and killed
No action taken in response to the number of girls who were being raped and
were pregnant

The report by the gender expert hired by UNHCR highlighted the lack of capacity by
UNHCR and Implementing Partners (IPs), to sustain gender-based programming. It is
for this reason that a recommendation was made that UNHCR identifies an
organisation with substantive expertise in gender and humanitarian operations, to
serve as the IP Gender Sector Specialist. Oxfam GB was at the time found to be the
only humanitarian organisation that had the capacity to be the IP for Gender. The role
of the IP for Gender was to create and maintain a sustained gender and SGBV
programme in all camps. Oxfam GB declined to take up the role of IP for Gender but

11
offered to support UNHCR in ensuring that all the IPs were addressing gender issues
in their programmes.

Following the suggestion made by the HD, a Gender Advisor was recruited for the
programme. The initial contract was for a period of six months, October 2004 to April
2005. Considering that there was still a lot of work to be done, the contract was
extended for another six months, from June to October 2005. The Gender Advisors
End of Mission report (see appendix 5) states that the activities for the initial period
October 2004 to April 2005 included:

Training of all Oxfam GB staff on the Code of Conduct

Training in gender awareness and analysis for Oxfam GB staff and partners
Gender sensitisation meetings in the camps
A national workshop on gender-based violence

Activities for the period July 2005 to October 2005 according to the Gender Advisors
Terms of Reference were to focus on:

Monitoring the implementation of the gender mainstreaming work of staff

and partners
Conducting gender awareness training for new staff, including staff in the
Host Community Programme
Collaborating with Intermn Oxfam GB on the SGBV National Policy
Formulation Programme and gender training of new Intermn staff
Collaborating with UNHCR on the promotion of gender mainstreaming in all
humanitarian interventions

This internal evaluation is therefore meant to review the above work so as to draw out
lessons about good practice for gender mainstreaming that can be shared with other
humanitarian programmes and future programmes.

2. Process and Methodology

2.1. Process

The suggestion of conducting a gender review was made by the Acting HD Gender
Advisor and accepted by both the Country Programme Manager and Gender Advisor
in Chad. In consultation with the Gender Advisor in Chad the terms of reference were
drafted in HD and sent to the CPM for comments. The Terms of Reference were
accepted as drafted and dates for the review agreed upon (see appendix 3 for terms of
reference).

Even though this was an internal evaluation there were concerns raised by some of the
Humanitarian Department Leadership Team (HDLT) members on the independence
of the findings since the HSP Gender and Representation Advisor who was to conduct
the review, was involved in the programme. To address this concern it was decided
that other independent people be part of the review team. It was not possible to get the
same people to be part of the team throughout the review. Therefore, different people
accompanied the HSP Gender and Representation Advisor for the various interviews
and discussions. For all the interviews and discussions in Guereda, Gaga,

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Kounoungou, Am Nabak and Abeche, the newly recruited Gender Assistant
accompanied the HSP Gender and Representation Advisor. Representatives of
SECADEV (a local partner of Oxfam GB), IMC, and Intermn Oxfam GB
accompanied the evaluator during the interviews and discussions in Guereda,
Kounoungou and Ndjamena.

2.2. Methodology

A total of eleven focus group discussions were held. Four were with Oxfam GB GB
national staff in Abeche, Guereda, Hadjer Hadid and Gaga (see appendix 4 for the list
of respondents). Most of the national staff had just participated in the series of gender
awareness training facilitated by the Gender Advisor. The focus of interest besides the
questions and discussion points in the check list (see appendix 5) was to find out the
staffs understanding of gender, how they were putting it into practice, what they had
learnt, their views on the challenges to addressing gender inequality, and what support
they needed from Oxfam GB GB to ensure that their efforts in mainstreaming gender
in their work and personal lives were sustained.

Five out of the eleven focus group discussions were held with refugee women and
men in Kounoungou, Gaga and Am Nabak. Two of the five were with women and
men refugees who were hired as Public Health Promoters in Gaga and Am Nabak.
One was with the refugee leaders (all were men) in Am Nabak, one with some of the
refugee women in Am Nabak and one with a mixed group of women and men in
Kounoungou. Though this group was mixed, a lot of the discussions took place in
small groups of men and women alone, and the outcomes of the discussions were
shared in the mixed group of men and women. The aim of holding the discussions
with the refugee women and men was to identify the main issues affecting men,
women and children in the camps and to assess whether these issues had changed or
in any way been affected by Oxfam GBs input of gender mainstreaming.

The other three focus group discussions were held with SECADEV in Guereda,
CELIAF (the Coordinating Organisation for Womens Associations) and AFJT
(Organisation of Women Lawyers) in Ndjamena. With SECADEV the interest was to
find out how they were mainstreaming gender in the organisation and programme
whereas with CELIAF and AFJT the focus was on finding out what they had done in
terms of contributing to addressing gender issues affecting the refugees. As with the
other organisations interviewed SECADEV, AFJT and CELIAF were asked about the
value added of Oxfam GB having a gender advisor in the team.

Individual and group interviews were conducted with some Oxfam GB GB

international staff and representatives of IRC, UNHCR, WFP, CCF, Care, IFRC, CRS
and Intermn Oxfam GB.

Some direct observations were also made in Gaga camp and Am Nabak. The
observations were mainly done around the water points and the market areas. The
interest was to observe the activities that the men, women, girls and boys were
involved in.

2.3. Limitations

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Due to delays in obtaining the visa to Chad, for the evaluator the trip was delayed and
this affected some of the scheduled meetings, especially in Ndjamena. The different
languages used during the interviews created a constraint at times. In most cases,
especially interviews with national staff and beneficiaries, translations were from
English, to French, to Arabic, and to the local language for discussions with refugees.
The translators during most of the interviews were male and this at times was an
obstacle in getting the information that was being shared, especially from the women.
This is so because the male translators were privy to the same gendered traditions as
the other refugees. The presence of the Gender Assistant, who understood some of the
local language, helped in following up on some of the issues that were thought to not
have been translated.

3. Findings

3.1. Levels of intervention

Gender interventions in the Chad programme were mainly done at four levels. The
first level was that of Oxfam GB staff, the second level was the refugee women, men,
and children benefiting from Oxfam programmes, the third level was local and
international partners, and the fourth was the national level, which involved working
with the government and NGOs based in Ndjamena. The subsequent paragraphs will
highlight the findings for each level of the intervention.

3.1.1. Oxfam GB staff level of intervention

Training on the Code of Conduct

The Humanitarian Department in Oxford had requested that the Gender Advisor give
priority to training staff on the Code of Conduct in the initial months of her contract.
A total of 106 staff members were trained on the Code of Conduct in the period
between November and December 2004. 71 were national and international staff on
contract while 35 were nationals recruited on a temporary basis. Only fourteen of the
106 were women of whom four were international staff, and ten were national staff,
all in domestic positions of cooks and cleaners (see the Gender Advisors end of
mission report, appendix 6).

Initially the plan was for a local consultant and Oxfam Intermn representative to
train the staff on the Code of Conduct using the Pick Up and Go Training Manual on
the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation. This plan however did not materialise though
in one of the training sessions the Gender Advisor was joined by two consultants from
the Association of Female Lawyers (AFJT) in Ndjamena. AFJT is a partner of
Intermn Oxfam. The sessions in which the AFJT representatives participated were
said to have been very useful especially in regard to providing information on national
legislation on SGBV and linking local laws to international statutes on SGBV.

The two main contentious issues that were said to have come up in the Code of
Conduct training were related to age at marriage and the question as to what happens
in regard to having sex with a refugee if one had fallen in love. A lot of time was said
to have been spent on trying to explain why staff could not marry a minor while
working for Oxfam and giving examples to help them understand, included providing

14
information that Chad was a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
As for having sex with beneficiaries staff were told of Oxfams Zero Tolerance
approach.

Even though the training on the Code of Conduct took a lot of the Gender Advisors
time, this was not in vain as can be measured against the number of cases that other
agencies had regarding the conduct of their staff. There were no cases reported on any
Oxfam staff member, though Oxfam was implicated in one case of a driver recruited
by a contractor that had a signed agreement with Oxfam. The implication arose
through the sticker that was on the car that this driver was using which had an Oxfam
logo on it. The action taken by Oxfam was to terminate the contractors agreement. It
was revealed that some agencies were having a lot of problems in regard to their staff
having sex with beneficiaries. It was assumed that some of the agencies had heard of
Oxfam training its staff on the Code of Conduct as the Gender Advisor had received a
request from two agencies to train its staff. One way in which other agencies may
have come to know of the training on the Code of Conduct for Oxfam staff was
through applications for jobs by those who had left Oxfam. Apparently, some were
using the certificates with which all staff that had attended the Code of Conduct
training had been issued.

All staff interviewed during the review seemed to be very aware of the Code of
Conduct. An example was given of a national staff member who had been having an
affair with a minor and ended the relationship immediately after the training on the
Code of Conduct. Among the international staff members there were some concerns
raised about the lack of clarity on the issue of prostitution and also how to deal with
the issue of staff having an affair with a fellow member of staff and working in the
same programme.

Gender inductions

Giving staff gender inductions was one of the activities that the Gender Advisor
focused on throughout her contract. Gender inductions were mainly done through
training workshops in the different locations in which Oxfam was operating. Due to
the different levels of understanding, the inductions of national and international staff
were done separately. None of the national staff had ever had a gender induction
before. The international staff that had passed through Oxford and had received a
gender induction were said to have found the training on gender helpful as it
complimented the information received in Oxford and also gave them the confidence
to mainstream gender in their work.

Most of the staff (both national and international) that were working in the
programme during the review had just received their gender induction through a series
of trainings conducted in Abeche, Guereda and Hadjer Hadid. Nineteen of the 24
international staff participated in the training. The five that did not participate in the
training included the CPM, the two Finance Officers, the Human Resources Manager
and the Programme Manager for the Host Community Programme. At the time of the
review the Gender Advisor was winding up her work as her contract was coming to an
end. She had, therefore, officially concluded the training programme and was only
providing gender inductions on a one to one basis for newly recruited staff. The
Programme Coordinator, however, requested that one more training session be

15
organised for all international staff that has not participated in any of the training. The
CPM and four other international staff went through the one-day gender training
specifically programmed for them. As in most humanitarian programmes there was a
high turnover of staff in the Chad programme and most of the staff that were currently
in the programme were working for Oxfam for the first time and therefore very much
needed the gender induction.

Feedback from the Gender Training

The feedback from most of the staff on the gender induction received through the
training was positive. Some national staff stated that they realised through the training
that there were a lot of inequalities that existed between men and women. For
instance, what struck most of them was the reality that women had a heavy workload
compared to men. Since the training some of the national staff had decided to change
their attitudes and behaviour. For example Haroun, a national staff member based in
Guereda, shared that since the training I have decided that I will be buying firewood
so that my wife does not have to walk a long distance to go and fetch firewood and
also I have started helping in looking for water. Haroun was asked whether he
would go and fetch firewood himself if he did not have money to buy firewood. His
response was that he would but he was not sure as to how this would be taken in his
community where going to collect firewood was seen as a womans job.

Other national staff, while acknowledging the importance of gender equality, were of
the view that this needed a lot of time as changing attitudes and behaviour is a
process. To them, the fact that they were even able to talk about the inequalities that
existed between women and men was a big achievement because it raised a lot of
awareness. The changes that were already being practiced by some were seen as an
even greater achievement.

When asked if Oxfam GBs approach of gender mainstreaming was interfering with
their culture and beliefs, the majority of the national staff said no. For these Oxfam
GB staff, anything that contributes to the well-being of the women, men and children
in their society should be welcomed and in their view gender equality would
contribute to addressing some of the problems faced in the community. They were,
however, cognisant of the reality that their present cultural and religious beliefs would
not support gender equality and therefore needed to be changed. For instance, the
attitude towards girls education was highlighted in all the focus group discussions
held with national staff as one of the main contributing factors to gender inequality.
One female support staff member in Guereda had this to say, Even if I am working as
a cook I am still suffering. Since I am a widow my earnings are not enough to look
after my family. I would not be suffering like this if I was educated. Can you imagine I
cannot even read a job advert and apply?

Some staff in Hadjer Hadid raised the concern that the inductions were done rather
late. This is attributed to the fact that the Gender Advisor took a long break and the
arrangements that were made for the Protection Advisor to cover for her seem to have
been lacking. Providing inductions for staff through training only resumed after the
Gender Advisor re-joined the programme.

16
Staff highly appreciated the training skills of the Gender Advisor. In some interviews
with international staff the Gender Advisor was described as a fantastic trainer
while comments made in the evaluations done at the end of each training session
included the following:

The training was well carried out by a very able facilitator

This is a very important exercise and would welcome another session at
another level
Good introduction that has made great difference on the confusion
between sex and gender approach
Very clear, enjoyable and full of interesting examples
Very good introduction
Source: Abeche Gender Training 12.11.2005

3.1.2. Beneficiaries level of intervention

Beneficiaries refer to the refugee women, men and children in the camps and also the
men, women and children in the host communities where Oxfam is operating. As
stated in the methodology, focus group discussions were held with beneficiaries in
Am Nabak, Gaga and Kounoungou camp. These discussions were held in order to
evaluate the impact of Oxfams gender mainstreaming approach according to the
refugees themselves.

In Kounoungou the focus group discussion was attended by nineteen women and
eight men, the majority of whom were zone representatives. In Am Nabak three focus
group discussions were held with women, leaders and the PHP promoters. PHP
promoters are refugee men and women who have been trained to monitor the use and
maintenance of the water sources and latrines. Gender training was also organised for
the PHP promoters by the Gender Advisor. For the number of participants that
attended the three discussions held in An Nabak camp see table below.

Focus Group Total Number of Women Men

Discussion Held Participants
Women 15 15 0
Community 15 0 15
Leaders
PHP Animators 14 12 2

In Gaga the focus group discussion was attended by seven PHP promoters of whom
two were women and five men.

Participation of beneficiaries in Oxfam activities

Ensuring equal participation of men and women in Oxfam activities was one of the
main ways of promoting gender equality in the programme. The initial gender
assessment that had been conducted in August to September 2004 had revealed that
staff were striving to ensure the equal participation of men and women in all activities
(see page 21 of the assessment report in appendix1). The efforts made in the initial
stages of the response to ensure gender balance in all activities was acknowledged by
the PHP international staff that were in the programme at the time of the review. One

17
of the staff in Hadjer Hadid shared the following to show that gender was
mainstreamed from the initial stages of the response:

When I came I found things were put on the ground such as having men
and women animators. Eight months ago there were13 female and 17
male animators. The number of female animators has since increased to
16. This is so because we decided to adopt an approach where we assign
one female and one male animator to carry out the public promotion
activities in each block. As I work with the women I am mindful not to
increase their already heavy workload. Some men are helping with
domestic roles such as sweeping and with the child to child programme
where we are trying to send messages of men and women sharing roles:
we hope the Masalit children will grow up with a different attitude. I
should say that there has been some attitude change among the men too
especially in regard to them allowing their wives to participate in the
programme. We are now having men come to us and say, please give
my wife a job. This is the impact of the gender awareness in the
camps.

The PHP promoters in Gaga also observed the change of attitudes among
beneficiaries. As beneficiaries themselves, the PHP promoters became aware of the
inequalities that exist between women and men through the gender training facilitated
by the Gender Advisor. Since attending the training they have been sensitising the
men and women in the camp. One of the PHP promoters shared that he saw one man
cleaning the latrine, and another was seen going to help his wife fetch firewood and
this was attributed to the gender sensitisation that was being done. It was, however,
acknowledged that changing attitudes takes a long time. Gender sensitisation among
the refugees was seen as the starting point. It was further noted that the possibility of
men and women resisting changes that will bridge the existing gender equality gap is
high in communities such as that of the refugees who were not aware of inequalities
before coming to the camp.

To some extent the discussions held in Kounoungou with the men and women
confirmed the issues raised by Oxfam staff and the PHP promoters in both Gaga and
Am Nabak.

Key issues from beneficiaries

The main issues that the women and men raised were problems relating to their
practical needs, such as inadequate food rations, lack of firewood, inadequate size of
their tents forcing married sons and daughters to remain with their families, lack of
milk for their children and lack of money to buy meat, or indeed to give as a dowry
when their children were at marrying age (boys: around 18, girls: around 15). Another
major issue raised was insecurity during firewood collection. During the discussion,
women revealed that they (and girls) had been sexually abused when they went out to
collect firewood. The abusers are said to have included men from the host
communities and the Gendarmes (Chadian security). They also explained that men
refused to accompany women because firewood collection was perceived as a
womens task. It was interesting that the women turned the exercise into a chance to

18
make a wish list of all the things that they needed rather than looking at the more
strategic needs that questioned their way of life.

In trying to get information on gender relations in the camp the problem of food,
which emerged as a major concern of both the women and men who attended the
focus group discussion, was used. The men and women explained that not only were
the rations inadequate, but that some of the food they were given needed grinding, but
if they couldnt pay the men who ground it, they took half the ground cereal as
payment, leaving families with even less to survive on.

This practical need for more food was used to guide the discussion into other strategic
issues, such as who is given priority to the little food available to the family. The
women and men attending the discussion were asked how they prioritised the little
food that they had. Both men and women initially said that they shared it equally.
They also explained that pregnant or lactating women received supplementary rations,
and these were also shared within the family instead of being eaten by the women.
With more prompting women explained that the children were fed first, then the
husband because he needed strength to go out and find food and finally the women
took what was left, or made themselves a thin porridge instead. The women
themselves said that even if they were pregnant or lactating, they would only take
food once everyone else had eaten. They seemed to refuse to take priority despite their
need for extra strength.

When both men and women were asked if men in the camps went out to find food, the
response was negative. The participants were lead into a discussion that was hoped
would help them to see that being in the camps was not the same as being at home in
Sudan. They were asked to try and adjust some of their customs to fit the abnormal
situation they are in. In short, the participants were made to see that because the men
did so little all day they did not need so much food and therefore, it made more sense
to give higher priority to women because they are the ones who collected firewood,
cooked, cleaning, washed the clothes, fetched water and looked after the children.

The suggestion of giving women priority was not welcomed by the majority of the
men and women, and it seemed that the women resisted the idea more than the men.
Perhaps the womens resistance to the suggestion was due to the expectations that
they know their husbands have of them, or out of a fear that their disobedience would
cause their husband to look for another wife. Some men, however, were positive and
were willing to prioritise their wives when they are lactating or pregnant. However,
the men raised a concern that since men and women did not eat together they
wouldnt know how much their wives were eating. They also expressed their worry
that if they try to implement the suggestion women would refuse to be prioritised. The
resistance that women in the discussion put up when the suggestion was made might
support the mens worry but the men need to analyse further why the women would
refuse to be prioritised and then find ways of dealing with the issue.

Another suggestion that was made in the discussion was that of the husband and wife
working together to reduce the work burden on women. With inadequate food and a
heavy workload the chances of the women staying fit were likely to be low and
therefore as a survival strategy in the camp situation the suggestion of sharing
household chores was made. The initial response to the suggestion was a big laugh at

19
the thought, and one man explained that doing any of the womens tasks would cause
him to be ridiculed.

The challenge that Oxfam GB and other agencies working in the camps seem to have
is helping the men and women in the camps understand that addressing the unequal
gendered roles would in some way contribute to lessening the problems related to
their practical needs. In reality, however, talking about gender issues with the men
and women together was a step forward. Nevertheless, the fact that women
themselves were refusing to accept the imperative that they be prioritised in the case
of inadequate food owing to the roles that they played showed that there was still a
great need for more sensitisation.

It was very encouraging to hear from the women that SECADEV, working together
with the Oxfam GB Gender Advisor, had done sensitisation work that had improved
womens ability to be heard in public and to participate in decision-making circles.
Apparently, women were afraid to speak and carried little weight or respect when they
spoke up, but now feel more listened to and more confident to speak out. Within the
review discussion, they even began voicing their belief that not enough women were
being recruited in camp work, and that breast-feeding or pregnant women are being
discriminated against.

SECADEV carried out training with women in the camps, in which they were asked
to make activity profiles for men and women to compare workloads. The women
acknowledged inequalities, but many felt that they could not change the situation. It
seems that perhaps women are not ready to take a lead in making changes. The men
that attended the focus group discussion in Kounoungou camp specifically asked if
they too could have similar training to that which the women had had, and were ready
to stay to have it immediately after the review discussion, despite having waited a
good while for the arrival of the review team. Perhaps it could be the men that will
take the lead in initiating the desired changes that are needed to promote gender
equality after attending the training.

The fact that the men and women were giving up their time to speak to the review
team could be used as an indicator of their interest to know more about gender and
this can be attributed to Oxfam GBs work. Furthermore, the discussions were
questioning their cultural beliefs and practices but neither the men nor women were
getting angry. One would have expected the men especially to get upset with the
radical suggestions and negative light that men were sometimes portrayed in: in fact
they were asking for more information on gender, especially from other African
countries. This was the case even with the community leaders, who are supposedly the
custodians of traditional and religious practices. The men seemed already aware of
Oxfam GBs work, many were present at Oxfam GBs activities on International
Womens Day and actively participated in the days events, which included games,
marching, sports, and speeches from different dignitaries and refugee women and
men.

In conclusion, the sensitisation work has begun to show changes in the participation
of women in decision-making and in giving them an enhanced feeling of worth and
equality, but it remains a huge challenge to promote gender equality within a society
so resistant to cultural change. It will require not only a lot of patience, but also a

20
concerted effort from Oxfam GB and other local and international organisations to put
in place a sustainable process that can continue when Oxfam GB leaves. This should
particularly include training, preferably a training of trainers of both national Chadian
and refugee staff.

Issues of Sexual Gender-Based Violence

While the men and women who attended the focus group discussions highlighted the
problem of SGBV that occurred when the women went out to fetch firewood, they did
not talk about the other cases of SGBV that had occurred while they were in Darfur.
According to a UNHCR representative this may have been due to an agreement to not
talk about SGBV as women who were victims of the mass rapes that happened in
Darfur had been ostracised. Though systems were put in place to respond to the needs
of the survivors, it seems certain issues were not looked into such as pregnancies that
came as a result of rape. The issue of not taking action on the pregnancies resulting
from rape cases was highlighted in the initial gender report prepared by the author of
this report in September 2004. According to a UNHCR representative there have been
reports of cases of infanticides and also of some women moving away from the camps
that were said could be attributed to pregnancies as a result of rape.

It was also suspected that the women have a number of problems that are a result of
SGBV. This observation was made by the UNHCR representative who shared that
some women in Kounoungou and one other camp in the South were demanding a
gynaecologist. When probed for the reasons why the women needed a gynaecologist it
was shared that women have many problems, heavy bleeding, complicated labour
and also there is a disease that some women have got from men that had gone to work
in the South. The UNHCR representative that shared this information was of the
view that the disease that women were referring to may be related to HIV/AIDS. To
address the womens health problems UNHCR has identified a health partner to put in
place measures for addressing health issues faced by survivors of SGBV.

The referral system for reporting SGBV cases that was put in place by UNHCR with
support from Oxfam GB and other INGOs working in the field of gender, was said to
have been working well initially but had been affected by the high turnover of both
national and international staff. The Gender Officer who had been in the programme
for five months at the time of the review was looking at ways of making the system
work. In her view, if all implementing partners had recruited Gender
Officers/Advisors as had been agreed, this would have contributed greatly to
following up cases of SGBV and addressing other gender issues.

The Chadian authorities failure to prosecute perpetrators of SGBV was said to be

contributing to the ineffectiveness of the SGBV referral system. It was further
observed that the capacity of security officers to interpret the penal code was very
low. It was therefore very common to find that perpetrators who had been arrested for
SGBV were let go and the victims were informed that the person had run away and
therefore case was closed. It is to deal with issues of this nature that it is important to
work with local organisations who can put pressure on their government to see to it
that cases are dealt with accordingly.

21
3.1.3. Partners level of intervention

Partners refers to other international organisations, UN agencies and local

organisations that Oxfam GB collaborated with in strengthening efforts to mainstream
gender in the Chad response. The international and UN agencies included UNHCR,
UNICEF, CORD, Care, CCF, IMC, ACTED, WFP, MSF and IFRC, while
SECADEV was the only local partner involved in working directly with the refugees.
CELIAF and AFJT were also taken as local partners but they were not directly
working with the refugees. The basis on which the partnership with CELIAF and
AFJT was based will be elaborated on in the next section.

At the time that the Gender Advisor was recruited, discussions were going on with
UNHCR on a recommendation that Oxfam GB be considered as implementing partner
(IP) for gender in the Chad operation. This recommendation was made in the final
report of the gender expert who was hired by UNHCR to look into issues of gender
and SGBV. During the Gender Advisors induction in Oxford she was able to
participate in one teleconference with representatives of UNHCR in Geneva regarding
the recommendation. While Oxfam GB declined to be the IP for Gender, UNHCR
was assured of support. The support offered was to provide training in gender and also
to assist in putting in place a coordination system.

Oxfam GB, working closely with UNHCR and UNICEF, was said to have taken the
lead in training staff from other organisations in gender. The Gender Advisor prepared
most of the materials and took the role of lead trainer. The training was aimed at
raising gender awareness, and covered the following topics:

Defining gender
The importance of gender in humanitarian work
The difference between gender and sex
Integrating gender in the project cycle
Introducing gender-based violence
Protection of refugees
The referral system on gender-based violence in camps

According to the Gender Advisor, running the training sessions for staff of partner
organisations was one of the major breakthroughs in terms of ensuring that agencies
working in Chad paid particular attention to gender. A series of training sessions were
targeted at staff at various levels in the organisations. Heads of programmes,
administration and logistics teams, government departments and the African Union
(AU) were among those targeted. The training for the heads of programmes that took
place on January 24, 2005 was attended by 21 participants representing MSF, JRS,
SECADEV, UNHCR, IRC, WFP, CORD, Oxfam GB and WCRWC. The training
session for administration and logistics staff on January 25, had 16 participants from
NCA, CORD, Care, UNHCR, CCF, IMC, ACTED, WFP and AU, while the session
for government departments had representatives from the justice, education and
security sections. Some AU representatives also participated in the session for
government departments.

One of the indicators that the Gender Advisor was using to measure the impact of the
training for partners was the increase in the number of organisations that started to

22
attend the Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) coordination meetings and were
able to share what they were doing in terms of gender mainstreaming and addressing
issues of SGBV. Before the training sessions, only Oxfam GB, UNICEF, and
UNHCR are said to have been sharing information on gender and SGBV. The fact
that other partners started to share information on gender and SGBV can be used as an
indicator to show that what was covered in the training was being put into practice.

Some of the representatives of partner organisations interviewed were of the view that
the joint action on training partners at various levels had a great impact. For example,
many of the organisations that had not been including statements in their job adverts
to encourage women to apply started doing so after the training. Partner organisations
were also able to share a lot of ideas regarding gender and were able to stand together
and lobby the local administration on issues of gender equality. An example given of
partner organisations standing together was when the Iriba local authorities demanded
that International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) should not recruit
women any more because of the Muslim religion which did not permit the closeness
of men to women. The head of the Iriba local authority asked that INGOs stop all
women working for their agencies. The head of UNHCR refused to obey the demand
and other agencies supported this. A special coordination meeting was held and most
organisations attended. As a result of this solidarity the Local Authoritys demand was
with drawn.

All partners interviewed acknowledged Oxfam GBs input in the success of what was
happening in Chad in terms of gender. A representative of one of the partner
organisations said I admire Oxfam GBs approach of mainstreaming gender in-
house and also providing support outside. While appreciating all the good work that
the Gender Advisor was doing, some representatives expressed their concern about
Oxfam GBs failure to provide the leadership that they are usually known for in
gender. It seemed to them that gender was only the responsibility of the Gender
Advisor. This conclusion was made based on the grounds that there was no reporting
on gender at the INGO coordination meetings from Oxfam GB, nor were any reports
prepared by the Oxfam GB Gender Advisor shared. In the first six months of her
contract, the Gender Advisor attended some of the meetings. She used to get feedback
from the then CPM on the outcome of the coordination meetings. In the second phase
of her contract this was not the case. Oxfam GBs lack of reporting on gender may be
attributed to the CPM at that time whose view was that gender was not priority.

3.1.4. National level intervention

The organisations that were met to review the activities at national level included
Intermn Oxfam AFJT, CELIAF, and the Ministry of Family and Social Action.
AFJT and CELIAF representatives shared on the support received from Oxfam GB
whereas the Ministry of Family and Social Action shared on how they had tried to
work on addressing some of the needs of the refugees.

According to Intermn Oxfam, that is the lead OI agency in Chad, at the beginning of
the Chad response there was no mention at all of gender in the weekly sitreps and a
concern was raised about this. With the recruitment of a Gender Advisor this changed
as gender was being reported on in the sitreps. Whenever the Gender Advisor went to

23
Ndjamena she met with the Country Representative for Intermn Oxfam and briefed
her on what was going on in the camps in regard to addressing gender issues.

For the first time in Chad, a national workshop on gender-based violence was held
and this was attributed to the support rendered by Oxfam GB through its a Gender
Advisor. While Intermn Oxfam was committed, to addressing issues of gender
inequality, the small number of staff in the programme limited the amount of time that
could be put into this. It was for this reason that Intermn Oxfam expressed their
concern about the continuation of the work that came up as a result of the action
points recommended at the workshop. This concern was shared by both CELIAF and
AFJT whose view was that the work on addressing gender inequalities in Chad had
just begun and they were grateful to Oxfam GB who provided a brilliant Gender
Advisor.

Through the Oxfam GBs Gender Advisors participation in the national workshop,
the participants were able to learn about and understand what was going on in the
camps and also have access to gender materials, and documents. Both CELIAF and
AFJT expressed their appreciation of the interaction they had had with the Gender
Advisor at the national workshop and other meetings that followed as a result of the
plan that was developed at the end of the workshop. The sharing of Zambias
experience in regard to GBV was said to have been useful. Intermn Oxfam is
planning on sending some of the members of CELIAF and AFJT to Zambia to learn
more on how GBV issues are addressed.

Other recommendations made during the workshop that have received support from
Oxfam GB are the development of a training manual on GBV and the writing of a
proposal for the setting up of a centre to provide counselling and advice to victims of
GBV. At the time of the review, a draft of the training manual was ready and was in
the process of being finalised by CELIAF. Oxfam GB will support the production of
the manual. AFJT had also prepared a draft proposal for the centre, which is being
called Centre dEcoute the Listening Centre. Once the proposal is finalised it will
be sent to Oxfam GB and other donors for funding. The Gender Advisor provided
guidance in developing the training manual and proposal.

The other significant outcome from the national workshop, according to the
representative of Intermn Oxfam, was the consolidation of relationships with the key
government ministries that could play a major role in facilitating the process of
addressing issues of gender inequality in Chad. The ministries that participated in the
workshop included the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry
of Family and Social Action.

Interviews with representatives of the Ministry of Family and Social Action revealed
that even though the Ministry was interested in helping address issues affecting the
refugees in Chad, especially women, this had not been possible. When the emergency
response started, UNHCR and Intermn Oxfam were said to have contacted the
Ministry of Family Social Action. Following this contact two staff from the Ministry
of Family and Social Action were seconded to UNHCR and placed in the field. These
staff had since not returned to the Ministry and there has not been any further contact
with UNHCR.

24
The Ministry of Family and Social Action representatives were of the view that the
government has a responsibility to address some of the needs of the refugees. It was in
line with this that a proposal was being developed to run a series of workshops on the
role of leaders and civil authorities in the promotion and protection of the rights of
refugees in Chad. The completion of the proposal was delayed because some of the
information needed had to be collected from the camps and resources to support this
were lacking. When the proposal is finalised it will be sent out to donors.

A lack of information flow from agencies working with refugees to the Ministry of
Family and Social Action was seen as an obstacle in facilitating collaboration. The
representatives of the Ministry shared that they were aware that 90% of the women in
the camps were victims of GBV and hoped that organisations like Oxfam GB and the
CELIAF could do something about this issue. This positive response of the
government could be followed up especially in demanding for measures to be taken
against security personnel who are said to be some of the perpetuators of GBV in the
camps, and also asking for systems to be put in place to facilitate the prosecution of
those involved in SGBV. As highlighted in the section on SGBV the number of cases
being reported had dropped because the perpetrators were not being prosecuted.

3.2. Value of having a gender advisor in the team

The presence of the Gender Advisor in the team was said to have added value by both
Oxfam GB staff and representatives of partner organisations that were interviewed.
For Oxfam GB staff the presence of the Gender Advisor served as a reminder of the
importance of ensuring that gender was mainstreamed in the programme. Below is
what some of the staff had to say in regard to the value added of having a gender
advisor in the team:

The presence of a gender advisor in the team has really strengthened our
ability to mainstream gender in our work. Everybody has been trained in
gender mainstreaming and knows how to put it into practice.

Whenever I had any questions regarding gender Honorine was there to

provide the answers and the support required. All Oxfam GB programmes
should have a gender advisor in the team.

One staff member who had been in the programme for 13 months had observed that
during the first few months after he arrived only men were seen attending meetings.
Women were invisible but as soon as the Gender Advisor arrived he observed a lot of
change. The Gender Advisor raised awareness among all staff on the importance of
ensuring that both men and women were participating in the activities even engineers
were asked to promote participation of men and women in the programmes he said.

Another staff member said having a gender advisor on the team had helped him to
understand what gender equality really means. He had this to say, Even when I have
grown up in France where there is (more) equality between women and men I did not
know how to mainstream gender into programmes. The training organised by
Honorine really helped me. I think it is important that all organisations have a gender
advisor in their teams. I was told when recruited that gender was important but it was
not clear to me what this meant until I attended the gender training.

25
In addition to staffs views many partners talked to also acknowledged the importance
of having a gender advisor in the team. They explained that their staff benefited from
the work of Oxfam GBs Gender Advisor through participation in gender training and
the provision of materials. They were also happy that they had someone they could
consult on gender issues, as most organisations did not have a gender expert, except
for UNHCR and CORD for a short period. Some organisations commended Oxfam
GB for seriously putting into practice the recommendation of gender mainstreaming
which has been pushed more since the Beijing world conference for women. They
acknowledged that a lot of UN and international organisations had put in place
policies for gender mainstreaming and are striving to put these into practice.

As observed by the representatives of other agencies, it is not enough just to have

gender policies, but what is key is the implementation of the policy. The Gender
Advisor provided support to the teams by ensuring that gender-mainstreaming
indicators were developed to measure the impact of the interventions. Using the
developed indicators, the staff, on a monthly basis, submitted their reports to the
Gender Advisor and this helped in monitoring the progress that was being made.
Below is an example of a report using the developed indicators. It is important to note
that staff developed the indicators in one of the training sessions that the Gender
Advisor facilitated in the initial six months of her contract.

The report below indicates that most of the targets in terms of numbers of men and
women in all the activity lines were met apart from recruitment.

26
Sample report on the gender mainstreaming indicators in February 2005 in Guereda

Activity line Indicator Targets Comments

Sensitisation Number of women and men participating in 60% women A total of 4790 women
sensitisation exercises during the month 40% men and 950 men were trained
in various PHP issues
Participation Number of women and men in charge of PHP latrine 70% women In May out of 687 people
cleaning kits 30% men responsible for latrine
cleaning kits, 627 were
women
Decision making Number of women and men heading PHP clusters 60% women Out of 124 people
40% men selected to be responsible
for cluster kits 80 were
men
Representation Number of women and men represented in other 50% representation Representation in other
committees within the camp on other committees zones bases PHP
established within the committees are shared
camp 50/50

Recruitment Number of male and female water attendants recruited 50% women None
50% men
Number of male and female animators recruited in the 50% male One female and no male
organisation 50% female
Number of male and female staff in other positions 40% female None
recruited during the period 60% male
Income generating Number of women and men involved in brick making 70% women 200 women and 90 men
activities 30% men were involved in brick
making for latrine project
Number of women and men involved in construction 70% men 80 were involved in
work on site 30% women latrine construction. No
woman undertook actual
latrine construction
Response to Number of womens issues that are responded to by 2 issues (per month) The PHP Kounoungou
womens Oxfam GB during the period. and SECADEV continue
problems to lobby the latrine
contractors to involve
more women.

27
In addition to facilitating the development of indicators and ensuring that the monthly
reports were submitted, the Gender Advisor helped the teams to develop action plans
for mainstreaming gender in the programme. The action plans were developed during
the gender training sessions. For example, the Gaga team had the following plan after
the training:

Activity When Where Who will be With what

responsible resources
Monitoring of Each week Gaga camp PHP Monitoring
gender Hygiene animators form
indicators
Sensitisation Starting Gaga camp PHP PHP/gender
about gender from Casual labourers visual aids
issues November (animators & water
point attendants)
Identification On-going Gaga camp PHP supervisor
of community
workers based
on gender
Date plan was done: 11/10/05
Place: Abeche
Team: Public Health Promotion

3.3. Challenges and gaps to gender mainstreaming

Support from management

The response from the majority of international staff on the question of support
received from current management in terms of gender mainstreaming was that
management could give more support than was the case then. Some staff were of the
view that management could do with increased understanding and knowledge of
gender.

To some extent, the views of management not having a full understanding of gender,
and thus providing less than the required support may be true. This conclusion is
based on information obtained from the CPM that in his view gender was not a
priority and therefore did not need to be supported. Some other members of the
management team who were working for Oxfam GB for the first time expressed their
lack of understanding of gender mainstreaming and gender issues until they had
attended the gender induction training session facilitated by the Gender Advisor.

Some international staff who had been in the programme longer made comparisons
between the present and past management. In their view gender was given support by
the past management because the position of the Gender Advisor was recognised and
everybody was made aware of her role. However, this was not the view of some local
partners that interacted with the past management on gender. Their experience was to
the contrary as they observed that the position of Gender Advisor was not given the
support required. All that was achieved in the gender activities that the local partner
was involved in was attributed to the Gender Advisors commitment, hard work and

28
determination. We know that it was very hard for the Gender Advisor because she
did not have support from colleagues: she had to fight to get the work done.

The example given by staff to illustrate how committed the past management was to
gender was that of the time when the Gender Advisor had to take a break after the
initial six months of her contract. The Protection Advisor was asked to cover for the
Gender Advisor and this in their view was a way of management ensuring that gender
was given the attention it deserves.

The staff however observed that the Protection Advisor did not do any gender work
for the whole period that the Gender Advisor was away. The Protection Advisor
shared that she did not do much gender work when covering for the Gender Advisor
and also thought that she could have been more proactive than reactive. A report by
one of the technical advisors on a visit to the Chad Programme in June-July 2005
observed that there was no gender advisor in the team but did not mention that the
Protection Advisor was covering for the position. The report indirectly implied that
there were no or little activities on gender during this period, which would then
confirm the observations made by the staff earlier of the Protection Advisor not doing
anything in terms of gender. One reason that could be advanced for the Protection
Advisor not being able to cover for the Gender Advisor is that she may have had a
heavy workload and therefore gave priority to her work. Management, when making
the decision that the Protection Advisor covers for the Gender Advisor, may have
overlooked the issue of the workload.

Another observation that some staff who had been in the programme during the initial
six months of the Gender Advisors contract made, was that when she went on leave
and new staff came on board they did not receive any gender induction or training. In
the staffs view this had a negative impact on some programmes. For instance, they
observed that the host community programme had recruited more men and only one
woman despite the fact that some good female candidates had been interviewed. Two
other examples that were given to illustrate the lack of gender awareness in the host
community programme was that when one of the engineers recommended that a
gender analysis be done, he was told that this would require a lot of time and the
programme did not have the time. The second was of a case where a water source for
the village was 2km away from the village and a source was found by Oxfam GB
about one kilometer away. The village leaders (who were all men) refused that the
drilling could be done unless it was not 800 meters away. Oxfam GB staff was of the
view that this would not have been the case had the women been consulted.

The challenges arising from the discussions above go beyond the Chad programme to
the organisation as a whole. Despite the fact that gender is a corporate priority, the
experience in Chad seems to suggest that giving gender attention in a programme
largely depends on the commitment of the leadership. This means that if the
leadership of a programme does not recognise gender as priority then issues of gender
remain unattended to. The gender policy in this case is not put into practice, which
raises the question of the value of the policy.

The above discussion points also show that staff have not fully accepted their own
responsibility over gender mainstreaming, but have, instead, a tendency to rely on the
gender advisor for gender mainstreamed programme delivery.

29
Gender and diversity

Achieving gender balance among staff was said to be a big challenge for both national
and international staff. It was observed, however, that gender balance was more
critical among the national staff. For instance, all twenty national staff in the Gaga
camp were men, while in the host community programme only one of the seven
national staff members was a woman. The high level of illiteracy among women was
identified as the main cause of the gender imbalance. The few female national staff
that were in the programme mostly came from southern Chad. Quite a number of men
came from there too. With the difference in culture and religion, staff from the south
did not feel very safe in the area. This was more so for the women, who stood out in
the communities because of the mode of dress among other things. Some of the
female staff expressed a concern that the organisation did not take into consideration
their situation of coming from a different cultural and social background than that of
the Chadians from the north. For instance, in the south women are educated while this
is not so in the north, therefore an educated woman from the south who goes to work
in the north may not readily be accepted in the community.

As for the international staff, at the time this review was done the Guereda team had
no female and six male staff members while Hadjer Hadid had one female and three
male staff members. There was almost a gender balance at the base in Abeche with
five females and six males. International staff were mostly from African and
European countries. The majority of the international staff were from African
countries and most were at middle management level. Most African staff who were
working for Oxfam GB for the first time raised a concern over this. Another concern
raised was the lack of sensitivity of international staff to the culture and religious
beliefs of the local staff.

While appreciating the constraints of achieving a gender balance among staff, there
was a perception that the organisation was not doing enough. For instance, some staff
observed that recruitment standards could be relaxed, for instance not only asking for
people who can speak French and Arabic but asking for someone who is able to
mobilise and speak the local language. In addition, job profiles could be made simple
to attract more female staff members.

Similar views about the organisation not doing enough to attract women were
expressed in regard to international staff. It was assumed that if the conditions were
made more attractive this would attract more women, for example flexibility in rest
and recuperation (R&R) and leave, and other motivating factors such as giving more
telephone time to married women and men. Oxfam GB can do better in terms of
gender and HR observed one of the staff members interviewed.

From some of the suggestions that were made on addressing the issue of gender
imbalance among staff, it could be concluded that gender mainstreaming in HR is
expensive and this raises questions as to what resources were put aside for this, if any.
The initial budget for gender work in Chad was only 2,000. Again, the issue of
allocating resources to gender goes beyond Chad. Is it time for the organisation to
consider a fixed minimum figure for gender mainstreaming in humanitarian response?

30
Building capacity of local staff

Two local staff were recruited as Gender Assistants in the last month of the Gender
Advisors contract. The Gender Advisor regretted that this happened in this way as
she was of the view that the assistants would have benefited from her support had they
been recruited much earlier. At the end of the Gender Advisors six-month contract it
had been agreed and resources allocated for the recruitment of three gender assistants
but with the change of management and strategy these plans were affected. By the
time of the review only two gender assistants were recruited.

The Gender Advisor was of the view that the recruitment of local staff should have
been done in the first month of her contract, or at the same time that national staff for
PHP or other positions were recruited. This would have given them time to be known
by the community and to understand the culture, since they were coming from another
community. Since Oxfam GB is phasing out its programme, it was the Gender
Advisors hope that the gender assistant positions will remain until the programme
has ended. This hope was in line with suggestions that were coming up from most of
the staff, beneficiaries and partners on the need of continuing to build on work that
had been started on gender.

Support from Oxford and the region

While appreciating the support that the Gender Advisor received through emails and
phone calls from Oxford, she was of the view that the support was not enough. A lot
of time was spent in the initial three months training staff on the Code of Conduct and
this took away time to focus on gender mainstreaming. Support through a Gender
Advisor either from the region or Oxford going to join her for a period of three to four
weeks would have helped a lot on not losing time for gender mainstreaming. Some
advisors from Oxford had visited their teams and this was a motivating factor, while
she did not see any gender advisors in the field for the whole period of her contract till
the time of the review. The Gender Advisor stressed the point that Chad was a
difficult mission and thus required a lot of time and initiative for one to settle down.
She shared the experiences of some colleagues in other organisations who had failed
to take off and therefore emphasised on the need for support.

The concern of the Gender Advisor of spending a lot of time in the first three months
training staff on the Code of Conduct was acknowledged by the Humanitarian
Department. It has since been clarified that training of staff on the Code of Conduct is
the responsibility of managers and HR.

Suggestions from Oxfam GB staff and partner organisations on how Oxfam GB

can contribute to sustaining initiatives on gender mainstreaming

Gender training of trainers for national staff and refugees

More gender training for Oxfam GB staff
Gender awareness training for refugee men
Oxfam GB to identify people in partner organisations to continue with the
work started
Literacy classes for Oxfam GB staff and their partners (spouses)

31
 Oxfam GB to continue holding the gender flag high even though difficult in
this environment

4.0. Lessons learnt from the programme

In concluding this report I would like to highlight some of the lessons which I think
can be learnt from the Chad programme.

The commitment of management to gender is key in facilitating the process of

all staff giving it the priority it deserves.
Gender inductions and training are the starting point of ensuring that gender is
mainstreamed throughout the project cycle.
The impact of gender interventions may not show immediately, as changing
peoples attitudes is a long-term process. Therefore this is something that staff
ought to be reminded of, in order that they are not discouraged from doing
anything about the situation.
The involvement of national organisations in gender issues is important,
especially in situations like Chad where work is also to be done with host
communities.
Addressing issues of gender inequality will require financial resources and
therefore need to be adequately budgeted for.
Even in the most difficult environments it is possible to initiate the process of
addressing gender issues: what matters is the determination, commitment and
skills of staff.
Recruiting a gender advisor for the programme provides support to staff who
have not had any experience in gender.
Letting CPMs decide on whether gender is priority or not dismisses gender as
a corporate priority.
Oxfam GB is recognised as a lead organisation in gender mainstreaming by
others, but needs to be followed up with consistent action..

5.0 Recommendations

Based on the findings of the review, below are some of the recommendations that
should be considered in future programmes to ensure effective gender mainstreaming:

Management

Management has a responsibility to ensure that gender is given priority in the

programme. It is therefore recommended that CPMs and PMs commit themselves to
ensuring that gender is given priority by taking the following steps:

Gender is incorporated in all staff performance objectives and reviewed

accordingly during staff performance appraisal.
Gender Advisors are part of management teams and participate in programme
meetings to provide guidance and information on gender and related
activities.
Adequate resources are allocated to gender mainstreaming activities through
consultation with the Gender Advisor during the process of budget

32
 preparation. Oxfam GB may want to consider a minimum figure for gender
mainstreaming.
Management should take responsibility for ensuring that there is effective
reporting on gender work. In the absence of a gender advisor, identification of
a a gender focal person among senior staff is imparative.
Management should take the lead and ensure that gender work is taken as an
organisational priority by all staff rather than taking it as the work of the
Gender Advisor.

It is understandable that humanitarian work moves at a faster speed and is heavy in

terms of workload, however despite this situation all CPMs and PMs need to have a
gender induction and gender training at the beginning of the programme to strengthen
their appreciation of gender.

Staff

All staff should have an induction and introductory training at the beginning
of the mission. This will ensure that staff have understood the concept of
gender and its approaches and are able to fully integrate gender in their
work.
All technical staff should have a reporting mechanism on gender
mainstreaming that feeds information to the sitreps and progresas reports.
National staff for gender should be recruited at the same time as other staff
so that the expatriate Gender Advisor can have enough time to build their
capacity.

Humanitarian Department (HD)

When a programme is being managed by the Humanitarian Department, as

was the case in the initial stages of the response in Chad, the department
should find ways to provide continuous support to the Gender Advisor through
constant monitoring such as field trips and materials.
The Humanitarian Department should equally ensure that all CPMs and PMs
who are recruited through Oxford undergo not only a gender induction but
training on gender as well so that they get to the programme well equipped
and able to support the gender mainstreaming process.
Humanitarian Coordinators and Humanitarian Officers to request the Regional
and Country Offices to ensure that all humanitarian staff are trained in gender
within the first two months of their recruitment.
HD should follow up with the region on how the work on gender can be
sustained. Training of trainers of national staff in partner organisations and
some of the refugee men and women was seen by most of the agencies
interviewed as a way of sustaining the gender awareness programmes.
UNHCR was prepared to support the proposal for this programme.

33
 Appendix 1

Eastern Chad Gender Assessment Report

August-September 2004

Compiled by Aggie Kalungu-Banda, Humanitarian Dept.

34
 Executive Summary
In May 2004, the Humanitarian Department (HD) approved the Programme
Implementation Plan (PIP) for response to the emergency situation in Chad. The HD
Director recommended that the Humanitarian Support Personnel (HSP) Gender and
Representation Adviser be deployed to Chad to ensure that attention to gender
mainstreaming was not to be lost in the efforts to scale up the programme.

The team in Chad suggested that the HSP Gender and Representation Adviser support
the programme in the short-term by ensuring that time be allocated for an induction
on gender mainstreaming for all staff going to Chad and passing through Oxford, and
in the medium-term by undertaking a field visit to assess how staff were integrating
gender into their work. This report is based on the findings of the field visit, which
was undertaken in August-September 2004. The terms of reference were as follows:

Gather information on gender issues, including sexual abuse and exploitation,

in all the camps; analyse the underlying causes and effects of these issues; and
identify what action needs to be taken;
Conduct an assessment of the training needs of Oxfam GB staff and partners,
including coaching and on-the-job training in gender mainstreaming and
prevention of sexual exploitation;
Establish what other agencies are doing in regard to gender mainstreaming and
sexual exploitation and assess what needs to be done in order to coordinate
efforts effectively;
Facilitate the development of a plan for gender mainstreaming and prevention
of sexual exploitation with all stakeholders. The plan to include detailed
activities, time lines, and human and financial resources needed, and who
would be responsible for each activity.

The terms of reference were fulfilled through meetings and discussions with Oxfam
GB GB and Intermn Oxfam staff based in Abeche, Ndjamena, Bridjing, Gureda and
Iriba, and with other agencies, namely Swiss Aid, Catholic Relief Services (CRS),
CELIAF (a coordinating organisation of Chadian womens associations), and AFJT
(an association of female lawyers in Chad). I also accompanied Oxfam GBs Public
Health Promoters and Engineers to Kounoungu, Bredjing, and Am Nabak camps.

Gender issues in the camps

The final mission report on gender and sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) issues
in Chad prepared by the consultant hired by UNHCR gave a detailed account of the
gender issues in the camps. The representative of Intermn Oxfam, the Oxfam GB
Protection Adviser, and some of Oxfam GBs field staff also highlighted issues raised
in the report, including:

Lack of womens direct or indirect participation in the management of food

and non-food items distribution, resulting in the specific needs of women, for
example breast-feeding mothers, being ignored.
Sexual abuse of refugee women in the camps, with at least one case involving
a staff member of an implementing partner of UNHCR.

35
 Lack of counselling facilities for women who had been victims of rape and or
subjected to watching their children being raped and killed.
Cultural and religious practices and beliefs prevent womens participation in
activities in the camps.
No action taken in response to the number of girls who are being raped and are
pregnant.
The disproportionately heavy workload of women.

How Oxfam GB is mainstreaming gender in the programme

My overall impression was that efforts were being made, and that there was strong
will to integrate gender issues in the programme. Staff who had received a gender
induction said that it had been helpful, and opened them to new ideas and approaches.
However, some staff still lack the confidence and skills to address gender issues, and
further training and support is needed to ensure that the programme has real impact on
gender relations.

Oxfam GB staff are striving to achieve gender balance in representation on water and
sanitation committees, but women still seem to lack the confidence to speak out. The
challenge to Oxfam GB staff is, therefore, to ensure that the voices of women are
heard.

Prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse

Both Intermn Oxfam and Oxfam GB were concerned at the lack of awareness about
the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse among its national staff and partners.
Plans were underway to identify a consultant who would facilitate training sessions
for staff and partners. The facilitator would use a manual on the prevention of sexual
exploitation and abuse that has been prepared by Oxfam GB and is being piloted in
the field.

Summary of recommendations

1. All international, national and local staff to undergo a gender induction.

2. All international and local Oxfam GB staff sign the Code of Conduct and undergo
training on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.
3. Study recommendations made in the final mission report on SGBV issues in Chad
and plan how to incorporate these into the Oxfam GB programme.
4. Put pressure on UNHCR to put in place mechanisms through which issues of
sexual exploitation and abuse of refugees are reported and victims receive medical
attention and counselling.
5. Encourage staff in the field to document their experiences of mainstreaming
gender and send these to the Abeche office for sharing with staff in other camps in
Chad.
6. To improve the gender balance among staff, consider affirmative action, and
allocate special resources to support this.

36
 Eastern Chad Gender Assessment Report
Background and methodology

In May 2004, the Humanitarian Department (HD) approved the Programme

Implementation Plan (PIP) for response to the emergency situation in Chad, but there
was a concern that planned gender mainstreaming work would be lost in the major
efforts to effect serious scale-up of the programme. The HD Director recommended
that the Humanitarian Support Personnel (HSP) Gender and Representation Adviser
be deployed to Chad to address this.

The team in Chad suggested that the HSP Gender and Representation Adviser could
support the programme in the short-term by ensuring that time be allocated for an
induction on gender mainstreaming for all staff going to Chad and passing through
Oxford, and in the medium-term by undertaking a field visit to assess how the staff
were integrating gender into their work.

This report is based on the findings of the field visit, which was undertaken in
August-September 2004. The terms of reference for the assessment were as follows:

Gather information on gender issues, including sexual abuse and exploitation,

in all the camps; analyse the underlying causes and effects of these issues; and
identify what action needs to be taken;
Conduct an assessment of the training needs of Oxfam GB staff and partners,
including coaching and on-the-job training in gender mainstreaming and
prevention of sexual exploitation;
Establish what other agencies are doing in regard to gender mainstreaming and
sexual exploitation and assess what needs to be done in order to coordinate the
efforts effectively;
Facilitate the development of a plan for gender mainstreaming and prevention
of sexual exploitation with all stakeholders. The plan to include detailed
activities, time lines, and human and financial resources needed, and who
would be responsible for each activity.

How the terms of reference were fulfilled

The HSP Gender and Representation Adviser fulfilled the terms of reference by:

1. Having one-to-one and group discussions with Oxfam GB and Intermn

Oxfam GB staff based in Abeche, Ndjamena, Bridjing, Gureda and Iriba.
2. Accompanying Oxfam GB Public Health Promoters and Engineers to
Kounoungu, Bredjing, and Am Nabak camps.
3. Conducting semi-structured interviews with some of the men and women in
the camps visited.
4. Holding meetings with representatives of Intermn Oxfam, UNHCR, Swiss
Aid, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Cellule de Liaison et dInformation des
Associations Feminines (CELIAF a coordinating organisation of Chadian
womens associations), and AFJT (an association of female lawyers in Chad).
5. Meeting with the Oxfam GB Protection Adviser, who had just finished
collecting field data for an assessment on protection issues.

37
 6. Reviewing the final mission report on Gender and Sexual Gender-Based
Violence (SGBV) issues prepared by a gender expert hired by UNHCR.
7. Conducting gender inductions for international staff who had just been
recruited.

Situational Analysis

The environment in Eastern Chad is very difficult for humanitarian work in terms of
the availability of water, transport and communication. The northern area is worse
than the south, as it is more barren. Security of refugees along the border was the
main focus at the beginning of the operation in Chad. The original idea, according to
the Programme Manager for UNHCR, was to have camps of small communities of
5,000 to 6,000 people. However, due to the large influx of refugees, most camps are
said to be accommodating 15,000 to 40,000 people and there is a fear that if more
refugees arrive conditions will worsen. According to representatives of Intermn
Oxfam, UNHCR has estimated that an additional 50,000 to 200,000 refugees will
arrive in Eastern Chad by the end of the year. The number of women is said to be
double that of men. UNHCR, with the help of other NGOs, is trying to do a gender-
disaggregated registration so as to have a good database.

According to UNHCR in Ndjamena, humanitarian work in Eastern Chad was not

properly done at the beginning of the operation. Intermn Oxfam supports this view.
UNHCR revealed that the urgency of providing shelter and moving refugees to camps
made it difficult to ensure that gender issues were being considered in the operation.
UNHCR hopes that the report that has just been prepared on gender and sexual
gender-based violence (SGBV) issues in Chad will help to ensure that gender issues
are seriously considered.

Some Oxfam GB and Intermn Oxfam staff expressed concern that the lack of gender
mainstreaming in the Chad operation was as a result of certain organisations
employing new staff for the humanitarian programme who were not sensitive to
gender issues and who were not given any gender-awareness training upon being
recruited. In addition, some organisations tasked with camp management did not have
the capacity to mainstream gender in their work because of a lack of staff with
experience in humanitarian work and an understanding of gender issues. For instance,
in one camp the organisation responsible for camp management only had one
international staff member, and local staff who had no knowledge of gender
mainstreaming.

UNHCR observed that although the operation in Chad seems in general to have
improved with more organisations coming in, there is still a lot to be done in terms of
gender mainstreaming (at the time of this assessment, UNHCR had 20 implementing
partners and there were another 20 NGOs that were not UNHCR partners). This was
further highlighted in the UNHCR report on gender and sexual gender-based violence.
UNHCR is currently in the process of deciding how to go about implementing the
recommendations of the report. One of the recommendations was that Oxfam GB be
considered as the implementing partner (IP) for gender. UNHCR is not yet sure of
whether the partner would take an advisory role or oversee the implementation of
another project. UNHCR hopes to work out the details of what would be expected of
the IP for gender by 24 September 2004. This information will be shared with Oxfam

38
GB immediately through the HD Gender and Representation Advisor. UNHCR is
expecting their Gender Adviser from Geneva to be in Abeche between from 2-9
October 2004. Oxfam GBs Gender Advisers were requested to be in Abeche during
this time to give information regarding the extent to which Oxfam GB can respond to
what is expected of the IP for gender.

Gender and SGBV issues in the camps

Since the gender expert hired by UNHCR had just completed her assessment of
gender issues, including sexual abuse, in all the camps, I relied on her report for some
pieces of information. The final mission report on gender and SGBV issues in Chad
gave a detailed account of the situation. Intermn Oxfam, Oxfam GBs Protection
Adviser, and some of Oxfam GBs staff in the field also highlighted issues raised in
the report, including:

Lack of womens direct or indirect participation in the management of food

and non-food items distribution. I learned from women in Am Nabak of how
some breast-feeding mothers had gone for days without food because they had
not yet been registered. Having women on the food distribution committees
would have made it possible for such issues to be raised.
Sexual abuse of refugee women in the camps. At least one case involved a
staff member of an implementing partner of UNHCR, and may be linked to
food for sex. During the deployment of the UNHCR gender expert, one known
rape case, one known attempted rape and one known violation of the Code of
Conduct were brought to light.
Lack of counselling facilities for women who had been victims of rape or
subjected to watching their children being raped and killed.
Cultural and religious barriers prevent womens participation in activities in
the camps. Oxfam GBs Protection Adviser gave an example of a meeting that
was organised for birth attendants, which only men attended. In other
situations women attended meetings but were not given any opportunity to
express their views.
No action taken in response to the number of girls who are being raped and are
pregnant. Girls as young as eight are being gang-raped, some of whom are
being hidden by their families and not receiving any medical attention.
Womens disproportionately heavy workloads. Women must fetch water, in
some cases, for instance in Bredjing camp, walking long distances, fetch
firewood from distant places due to the scarcity of tree in the areas, work in
host communities fields to earn cash, queue up for hours for food on food
distribution days, go to the market to sell some of their produce on market
days, and also take care of children.
Though a red flannel material was being distributed in many camps, if not all,
this so-called sanitary material most often appeared in the form of dresses or
headscarves on the refugee women and children. Women complained about
the material and, without soap to clean it, did not think it very sanitary.
Lack of gender balance in staffing and lack of understanding of the culture of
the beneficiaries. For instance, in Farchna, where SECADEV is in charge of
the camp management, all staff are men from the south of Chad and have no
knowledge of the Muslim culture.
Lack of sensitivity to gender issues among the implementing partners.

39
 No systems in place for reporting cases of sexual exploitation and abuse.

The report by UNHCRs gender expert revealed that not much was being done to
address the above issues and this was confirmed in discussions with Intermn Oxfam,
Oxfam GB, Catholic Relief Services and UNHCR. The report makes a lot of
recommendations but these do not include the role that Chadian womens
organisations advocating for womens rights could play. At the two meetings that I
held with the Association of Chadian Female Lawyers and the co-ordinating
organisation for womens associations, representatives of these organisations
expressed their commitment to contributing to the protection of the refugees,
especially women. The female lawyers shared that they were in the process of
lobbying parliament for an enactment of a law on ending violence against women.
The law will include ending sexual abuse in conflict situations. They were of the view
that female refugees in Chad would be protected under this law. The coordinating
organisation for womens associations thought they could lobby the Chadian
government to increase the number of security women that will be deployed in the
camps, and were willing to sensitise security officers on the ills of sexual abuse and
exploitation.

How Oxfam GB is mainstreaming gender in the programme

Gender inductions for staff

Most of the international staff recruited for the programme who passed through
Oxford had a gender induction. Although there were plans for staff who were not
passing through Oxford to be given a gender induction upon arrival in Chad this did
not happen. The office in Abeche had two gender induction packages on the shelves
with other resource materials, although there was no system in place to check on
whether or not they were being used. Staff who had their own copies of the induction
package informed me that they found the information useful, especially the gender
checklist cards. They had also found the gender induction very useful. One staff
member said:

The gender induction has been useful in that it has helped me to take into consideration the
interests of the various people I am working with. It is very easy to forget in an emergency
that the people we are working with have different interests and needs.

There was, however, an observation by some staff that others, despite having had an
induction, were not demonstrating an appreciation of gender issues. It was suggested
that staff should be trained in gender-awareness and skills on how to integrate gender
into their work.

Although there was evidence in the field (as will be highlighted in subsequent
sections) that some staff are making an effort to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in
their work, a concern was raised by Intermn Oxfam that field reports do not reflect
gender issues. This concern about reports being gender-blind has also been raised by
the HD Gender Advisers.

40
Examples of gender mainstreaming shared by staff

Am Nabak Camp: malaria programme

The beneficiaries were asked to select an equal number of men and women to be
trained to spray all the tents in the camp. The men opposed the idea of women
participating in this programme because, according to local religious practices,
women are not allowed to enter a mans house and spraying would require them to do
so. Oxfam GB staff accepted the mens point but suggested that the women undergo
the training too so that they could spray their own tents. The women would also assist
the men in mixing the chemicals and addressing safety issues. This suggestion was
accepted and both men and women were trained.

After the training the men and women commenced the spraying exercise. On the first
day it was observed that only the men did the spraying while the women mixed the
chemicals and took care of safety issues. On the second day however, women did the
spraying while the men were mixing the chemicals and taking care of safety issues,
and this was the case for most of the remaining period. According to Oxfam staff, the
women seemed to do the spraying better than the men.

While staff should be commended for their efforts in encouraging the participation of
both men and women in the malaria spraying programme, there is a need to be
cautious and not to allow a situation where men leave the work to the women, thereby
increasing their already heavy workload. For instance, the fact that on the second day
of the spraying exercise, the men that had opposed womens participation on religious
grounds allowed the women to spray while they mixed the chemicals raises a lot of
questions.

Cash for labour in Kounoungo camp

During a coordination meeting, Oxfams water engineer in Gureda shared Oxfams

gender mainstreaming approach with other organisations and advised that all other
agencies adopt a similar approach. The other agencies, while accepting that the
Oxfam approach would be the ideal, stated that the refugees would not accept it due to
their religion. Despite these views, Oxfam staff went ahead with plans to have both
men and women participate in the cash for work programme. Men and women
worked together to build platforms for water bladders.

I had the opportunity to witness the men and women work together, loading and off-
loading sand from a pick-up van. Oxfam staff intend to encourage other organisations
to ensure equal participation of men and women in all their activities through
displaying some of the pictures taken of men and women working together at the
place where coordination meetings take place.

I held separate discussions with the men and women who were participating on the
day that I visited the camp to get their views about working together on the project.
Both the men and women shared that they had no problem working together, since
they had been working together before the displacement. The men and women were
further asked about representation on decision-making structures in the camp. It was
revealed that only men were represented in these structures. When asked why this was

41
the case, the response was that if women had any concerns about the decisions made
by the leadership they could raise this through the womens committee. An in-depth
discussion on this matter was not possible because none of the Oxfam GB staff
present could communicate directly with the beneficiaries, who were only able to
speak Arabic and local languages. This experience indicated the need to find an
appropriate and effective way of communicating with beneficiaries if gender
inequality issues are to be adequately addressed.

Formation of sanitation and hygiene committees in Bredjing

The Public Health Promoter has formed committees for the facilitation of water and
sanitation activities in the camps. All of the committees are balanced in terms of
gender and age. Each committee has six members: three men and three women.
Getting women to be represented was achieved through first recognising the
leadership, which is mainly men. The Public Health Promoter said of her experience
of trying to get women represented on the committees:

One thing I have learnt is that you must respect the men first. Cultural sensitivity is very
important.

I was able to witness the formation of one of the committees and my observation was
that equal representation might not be the right approach in Bredjing Camp, because
there are more women than men. Staff were advised to consider adjusting the numbers
so that they were representative of the gender composition of the camp. Further, I
observed during a meeting with one established committee that women were not
participating in discussions as much as men. This may be as a result of cultural
practices that have not given women the opportunity to participate in decision-making
structures in their society, and also due to the language barrier in this case. None of
the Oxfam staff working in Bredjing can speak Masalit, which is the only language
spoken by most of the women in Bredjing.

Prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse

All international staff had signed the Oxfam GB Code of Conduct, which prohibits
any form of sexual relationship with beneficiaries, but national staff had not. Both
Intermn Oxfam and Oxfam GB were concerned at the lack of awareness about the
prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse among national staff and partners.
Though there were no concerns raised about international staff, in my opinion they
too need to be helped to understand the issue of sexual exploitation. This arose from
comments made by some international staff when I gave advice on the prevention of
sexual exploitation, based on what I had observed in the field. The comment was that
only aid workers were viewed as the perpetrators of sexual exploitation and they
wondered what I had to say for cases where refugee women offer themselves. Two
international staff shared that they had been approached by refugee women and told
that since most of the men had died or joined the rebels, there were no men to satisfy
their sexual needs. These comments revealed a lack of understanding of how women
in vulnerable situations may be forced to use their sexuality in order to meet their
basic needs.

42
To address concerns about the prevention of sexual exploitation, plans were underway
to identify a consultant who would facilitate training sessions for staff and partners on
the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. The facilitator would use a manual
that has been prepared by Oxfam GB and is being piloted in the field.

As Chad is a francophone country, the manual has already been translated into
French. Oxfam GB is relying on Intermn Oxfam to identify a local facilitator for the
training. Intermn Oxfam, however, has made some suggestions regarding the
training: firstly, that the training be facilitated by an Oxfam staff member because
they would have a better understanding of internal policies; secondly, that
participation should not be limited to Oxfam staff and partners but be opened up to
other agencies working in the camps; and thirdly, that UNHCR be asked if it was
possible to have a joint training.

Oxfam GB appreciated the idea of opening the training to other agencies and running
a joint programme with UNHCR but this was seen as a long-term measure. The
suggestion of having an Oxfam staff member facilitate the training was also seen as
the ideal, but with the current urgent need for training, Oxfam GB recommended that
a consultant be hired to conduct the training as soon as possible. The Humanitarian
Co-ordinator who is leading Oxfam GBs work on the prevention of sexual
exploitation and abuse advised that I help in identifying a consultant while I was in
Chad.

With the assistance of Intermn Oxfam, I met with the Organisation of Women
Lawyers (AFJT) in Ndjamena to find out if they could facilitate a series of training
sessions for Oxfam staff and partners. AFJT were confident that this was something
that they could do but I suggested that the organisation studies the Oxfam GB manual
on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and the terms of reference for the
training before they commit themselves.

Challenges to gender mainstreaming

There were indications that there is a need for staff to balance the urgency of
providing for visible needs against the latent needs of beneficiaries, such as womens
sanitary requirements. Despite the fact that the Gender Advisers raised the issue of
sanitary requirements in the early days of the scaling up of the programme this is yet
to be addressed.

Despite efforts by Oxfam staff to achieve gender balance in representation on water

and sanitation committees, women still seem to lack the confidence to speak out. The
challenge to Oxfam staff is, therefore, to ensure that the voices of women are heard in
these committees. It is not just a matter of numbers, but how we can help women to
break the silence so that their views and concerns are heard. Changing peoples
cultural and social behaviours cannot happen in one day and may take time, so
another challenge to staff is to be patient and not to expect immediate impact from
their efforts to confront practices that hinder women from speaking out.

The other challenge is in regard to gender balance in the recruitment process. Job
adverts were displayed at the gate of the Oxfam Office in Abeche and announced on
radio in Ndjamena. The few days I was in the Abeche office I did not observe any

43
woman come anywhere near the gate and when I talked to the staff member in charge
of recruitment he too said that he had not seen any woman at the gate. The challenge
is for the programme to explore ways through which job adverts can reach both men
and women. Circulating job adverts through local organisations, especially womens
organisations, was one of the ideas suggested to the team in charge of recruitment.

Another challenge regarding recruitment is relates to unrealistic selection criteria such

as the criteria that applicants should speak English. Considering the high levels of
illiteracy among women and English not being the national language, it is highly
unlikely to find a woman that will meet this, especially in Abeche. Do we undertake
affirmative action in the recruitment process that takes into consideration womens
poor access to educational opportunities and allocates resources for training and
capacity building? In considering affirmative action, there is a need to be cognisant of
the impact this may have in a culture that does not allow women to participate as
equals. For instance, there were rumours that one international female staff member
was harassed for driving in Abeche.

What Oxfam partners and other international organisations are doing in regard
to gender

I was to meet with Oxfam partners (SECADEV) to assess their gender training needs.
However, Oxfam staff in Bridjing advised that this be done at a later time as Oxfam
was in the process of discussing the partnership with SECADEV in Farchana camp.
Similarly, in Iriba there was a feeling among Oxfam staff (who were newly recruited)
that the time was not appropriate to engage SECADEV in discussions to identify their
gender training needs.

Apart from UNHCRs hiring of a gender expert to produce a report on gender and
sexual gender-based violence issues in Chad, nothing else had been done by the
organisations I met, namely Swiss Aid and CRS.

Swiss Aid does not implement programmes directly but works through local partners.
At the time of this assessment Swiss Aid was in the process of signing a contract with
Intermn Oxfam through which they would provide support for food and non-food
items in six camps: Kounoungu, Am Nabak, Farchana, Touloum, Bredjing and
Triejing. Swiss Aid admitted that not much focus had been put on gender in the past
but through collaboration with Intermn Oxfam there are plans to focus on gender.
For instance, there are plans to conduct a gender assessment and address issues of
sexual violence. Swiss Aid expressed interest in participating in the Oxfam training on
the prevention of sexual exploitation.

CRS are providing support to SECADEV for general camp management. Usually
CRS conducts a gender analysis of the interventions of their partners but in this case it
was not done. CRS emphasised the need for everyone working in the camps to
understand gender issues and integrate them into their work. This, however, can only
be reinforced with the availability of resources, both human and financial.

44
Conclusion and recommendations

In concluding this report I would like to commend Oxfam GBs staff for the efforts
they are making in trying to mainstream gender into their work. I would like to
reiterate the advice that gender mainstreaming will become natural if, on a daily basis,
staff and partners are thinking about how they can best meet the needs of the men,
women and children that we are working with. Being able to understand their needs
will entail knowing more about their culture, practices, beliefs and attitudes and how
these can impact on our interventions. It is when we have a full understanding of how
men and women relate to each other that we will be able to plan how to help them
change the practices, beliefs or attitudes which hinder their access or participation.

The final mission report on gender and SGBV by the gender expert hired by UNHCR,
and the report by the Oxfam Protection Adviser give a lot of information that would
be useful in strengthening our efforts in gender mainstreaming. As a way forward, I
make the following recommendations:

1. All international, national and local Oxfam staff undergo a gender induction.
Depending on their levels of awareness and ability to analyse and mainstream
gender into the programme, training sessions could be organised for staff and
partners.
2. The Programme Manager and Human Resources Team should include gender
issues in the inductions given to national and local staff. The gender induction
pack, and in particular the green card, could be used.
3. A system to monitor the use of the gender induction package in the Abeche office
to be put in place. Staff to be encouraged to give feedback on the package.
4. While recognising limitations in the availability of gender-disaggregated data,
field staff should be encouraged to make an attempt to reflect disaggregated data
in their reports. Reports should also state the impact the interventions are having
on men, women, boys and girls. Reflecting the age distribution of the beneficiaries
of the programme is also important.
5. All international and local Oxfam staff sign the Code of Conduct and undergo
training on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.
6. In collaboration with other organisations working in the camps where Oxfam is
operational, study the recommendations made in the final mission report on
SGBV issues in Chad and plan how to implement the recommendations.
7. In collaboration with other organisations, ensure that UNHCR puts in place
mechanisms through which issues of sexual exploitation and abuse of refugees are
reported and victims receive medical attention and counselling.
8. The Programme Manager should encourage staff in the field to include
information on how they are addressing gender issues in their reports, and to
include this information in the weekly sit-reps.
9. The Programme Manager and Gender Adviser should encourage staff in the field
to document their experiences of mainstreaming gender and send these to the
Abeche office for sharing with staff in other camps in Chad.
10. To improve the gender balance among staff, consider affirmative action, and
allocate specific resources to support this.
11. Explore the possibility of involving local organisations in lobbying the Chadian
government to ensure that their interventions are gender-sensitive.

45
12. To address language problems, some of the refugee women and men with a bit of
English could be offered training to improve, and be used as translators; hire
translators who can speak English and the local languages that refugee women
speak in areas where women do not speak Arabic.
13. Assess the understanding and capacity of partners to mainstream gender in their
work and provide the required support.
14. Establish contact with all other organisations working in the camps that we are
working in and investigate the possibilities for collaboration so as to strengthen
our efforts in addressing gender issues.

Action Plan

As I had discussions with the different people that I met, we agreed on actions that
needed to be taken to address some of the issues identified and to strengthen our
efforts in gender mainstreaming. This is an immediate and short-term plan, which will
be monitored by the Gender and Representation Adviser in Chad and the HSP Gender
and Representation Adviser. The Gender Adviser in Chad will, in consultation with
other Oxfam staff, develop a long-term action plan for gender mainstreaming. This
plan will take into consideration the recommendations of this report, the Protection
Advisers report and the final mission report by the UNHCR Gender Expert.

46
Immediate Action Plan

Action By Whom By When

Share with UNHCR the Intermn Oxfam 2nd week of October 2004
role womens
organisations in Chad want
to play and find out if this
is possible.
Give AFJT the French Intermn Oxfam September 27, 2004
version of the manual on
the prevention of sexual
exploitation and the terms
of reference
Study the materials given AFJT (Association of October 1, 2004
on the prevention of sexual Female Lawyers in Chad)
exploitation and make a and Intermn Oxfam
decision on whether or not
the organisation can
facilitate the proposed
trainings
Display some of Oxfam Oxfam GB Water October 10, 2004
GBs photos of men and Engineer in Gureda
women for other agencies
to see
Follow up on the provision Public Health Adviser and As soon as possible
of sanitary requirements Logistics Team in Abeche
for women
Send job adverts to local HR and Logistics team in As soon as possible
womens organisation in Abeche and Ndjamena
Ndjamena and Abeche
Ensure that national staff HR and Gender Adviser End of October
sign the code of conduct
and hold sessions to help
them understand the issues
of sexual exploitation

47
 Appendix 2

Terms of Reference for the Assessment of the Work on Gender Mainstreaming

in Chad

Brief background and current situation

In May 2004, the Humanitarian Department (HD) approved the Programme

Implementation Plan (PIP) for response to the emergency situation in Chad. The HD
Director recommended that the Humanitarian Support Personnel (HSP) Gender and
Representation Adviser be deployed to Chad to ensure that attention to gender
mainstreaming was not be lost in the efforts to scale up the programme.

The team in Chad suggested that the HSP Gender and Representation Adviser support
the programme in the short-term by ensuring that time be allocated for an induction
on gender mainstreaming for all staff going to Chad and passing through Oxford, and
in the medium-term by undertaking a field visit to assess how staff were integrating
gender into their work. In August 2004 an assessment was conducted and the findings
included information on the following:

Gender issues in the camps,

Training needs of Oxfam staff and partners
What other agencies were going in regard to gender mainstreaming and what
needed to be done to strengthen coordination.

The recommendations of the assessment included among others the following:

1. All international, national and local staff to undergo a gender induction.

2. All international and local Oxfam staff sign the Code of Conduct and undergo
training on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.
3. Study recommendations made in the final mission report on SGBV issues in
Chad and plan how to incorporate these into the Oxfam GB programme.
4. Put pressure on UNHCR to put in place mechanisms through which issues of
sexual exploitation and abuse of refugees are reported and victims receive
medical attention and counselling.
5. Encourage staff in the field to document their experiences of mainstreaming
gender and send these to the Abeche office for sharing with staff in other
camps in Chad.
6. Improve the gender balance among staff, consider affirmative action, and
allocate special resources to support this.

Following the assessment a Gender Advisor was recruited for Chad for a period of 6
months, which was later extended for another three months. The Gender Advisers
immediate task was to follow up on the action plan that was developed during the
assessment and to develop a long-term action plan for gender mainstreaming in
consultation with the team. The plan was to take into consideration the
recommendations of the assessment report, the Protection Advisers report and the
final mission report by the UNHCR Gender Expert.

48
Chad is one of the programmes we have been sighting as a good example for learning
on gender mainstreaming in humanitarian situations and its therefore for this reason
that we want an assessment to be done to assess the impact of our work.

Main objective of the assessment

To draw lessons from Chad on the good practices for gender mainstreaming that could
be shared with other humanitarian programmes and used for future programmes.

Reference points for the assessment

Gender mainstreaming at organisation level

Gender mainstreaming at programme level (at each stage of the project cycle)
Coordination of gender work with other agencies

Date Activity Comment

16th October Interviews in Ndjamena Meet with Resident
Representative of Oxfam
Intermon, and representatives of
Celiaf, AFJT, Ministry of Social
Action and Ministry of Legal
Affairs
17 19 October Interviews in Abeche Interviewees include Oxfam
CPM, PM, national and
international staff,
representatives of UNHCR,
UNICEF, Cord, IRC,CRS
20th October Travel to Guerida
21 23 October Interviews in Guerida Meet with Oxfam national and
international staff,
SECADEV,UNHCR,Care,IMC,
Refugees (men and women),
CCF
24th October Travel back to Abeche
25th October Travel to Hadjer Hadjid
26 27 October Interviews in Hadjer Hadjid Meet with Oxfam staff national
and international,
IRFC,UNHCR,SECADEV,
Refugee men and women, Cord
28th October Travel back to Abeche
29 30 Report Writing
1st November Presentation of Findings Oxfam management team
2nd November Departure of assessment team

49
 Appendix 3

List of Respondents for Individual and Group Interviews

Name Position Organisation Location

Pare Alexis Community Services UNHCR Guereda
Administrator
Martin Masubuko Child Protection CCF Guereda
Officer
Amadou Samake Head of Field Officer WFP Guereda
Hubert Nguemouro Acting Delegate SECADEV Guereda
Beti Konossoum Community Officer SECADEV Guereda
Jean Claud Distribution CARE Guereda
Coordinator
Djohara Noure SGBV Assistant CARE Guereda
Brahim Abudulaje Assistant Community CARE Guereda
Officer
Honorine Gender Advisor Oxfam GB Abeche
Muyoyeta
John Lubari Public Health Oxfam GB Hadjer Hadid
Promoter
Felix Owusu-Adu Finance & Admin Oxfam GB Abeche
Manager
Thomas Mamodu Drilling Supervisor Oxfam GB Guereda
Kader Diallo Logistician Oxfam GB Abeche
Gerard Mukarane Admin, Finance and Oxfam GB Guereda
Log
Bofio Jean-Marie PHP Oxfam GB Guereda
Nicolas Le Guen Programme Manager Oxfam GB Guereda
Simon Kago Hydrologist Oxfam GB Abeche
Charlotte Mujinga PHP Oxfam GB Gaga
Olivia Scannell Host Community Oxfam GB Abeche
Programme Manger
Amy Glass Logistics Coordinator Oxfam GB Abeche
Pauline Ballaman Technical Adviser to CRS Abeche
SECADEV
Mariona Miret PHE Oxfam GB Hadjer Hadid
Hubert Ballaman Logistician Oxfam GB Hadjer Hadid
Ashley Sarangi Programme Manager Oxfam GB Hadjer Hadid
Thomas Janny Water & Sanitation IFRC Hadjer Hadid
Edou Muhima Human Resource Oxfam GB Abeche
Manager
Lynn UNHCR Abeche
Achta Country Intermon Oxfam Ndjamena
Representative
Hermione Holland Protection Advisor Oxfam GB Abeche
Jacquieline Protection Assistant Oxfam GB Abeche
Dereaudje Mblyam
Miandjim Protection Assistant Oxfam GB Abeche

50
Djimadengar
Julien Sauglam Protection Assistant Oxfam GB Abeche
Nadjikoumah
Dominique CPM Oxfam GB Abeche
Chanoine Olivier PHE Oxfam GB Guereda
Patient Mashaariki Programme Officer, UNICEF Abeche
Child Protection
Madeleine Gender Officer UNHCR Abeche
Mounouni
Valerie Programme Oxfam GB Abeche
Coordinator
Ben Hemingway Senior Desk Officer IMC Washington (in
Guereda on a
mission)

51
 Appendix 4

Questions and Discussion Points For Review in Chad

UN agencies, INGO and NGOs

Are you aware of OGBs position of Gender Adviser?

What has been your interaction with this position?
What kind of support have you received from the Gender Adviser?
Is there any added value of agencies having a position of Gender Adviser on their
teams? Is yes what is the value? If not why?
Is there a gender coordination network in this country/emergency?
What do you know about the coordination of gender work?
What have been some of the successes of the coordination?
What have been the challenges of coordination?
What role if any has Oxfam played in the coordination?

Oxfam staff

Chad is being cited as a good example of gender mainstreaming: do you agree

with the assertion?
What do you think has been the supporting factors to the success of the gender
work in Chad?
What have been the challenges in strengthening gender mainstreaming in Chad?
How can the challenges be addressed?
How have you been mainstreaming gender into your work?
What support have you received from the Gender Advisor?
Have you received gender mainstreaming training and was it useful?
Was this your first gender training experience?
What support did you receive from management in terms of gender
mainstreaming?
Is there any added value of having a Gender Advisor in the team?
Which other comments/ recommendation with regard to gender mainstreaming
and gender work and gender support would you like to make?

Beneficiaries

What has life been like in the camps in general for men, women, and children?
What issues affect men, women, girls and boys? (Bring up issue of womens lack
of participation in decision making, and heavy work load if left out)
Are there any organisations that are helping in addressing the identified issues?
Are you happy with the way that the issues are being addressed if not how would
you want the issues to be addressed?
Do you know anything about Oxfam? If yes what do you know?
Do you think Oxfam has been addressing the needs of women, men, girls and
boys?
If yes how have they been doing it?

52
 What about the other organisations how have they been addressing the needs and
issues affecting men, women, girls and boys?
Are the any changes in the manner men and women relate, the roles they play at
household and community level, their access and control of resources?
If no changes why? If yes what has facilitated this change?
What has been the participation of men and women in activities run by Oxfam?
What do you think about Oxfams approach of working with men and women?
What do you think have been the benefits of the Oxfam approach to the men and
women in your community?
Has the approach had any impact on cultural or religious beliefs? If yes what has
been the impact
Which other comments/ recommendation with regard to gender work and gender
support would you like to make?
.
Gender Advisor

Has all the staff had a gender induction? Who is responsible for ensuring that staff
have a gender induction?
Have all staff singed code of conduct and attended training?
How have the recommendations on SGBV issues been incorporated into the
programme?
What role did Oxfam play in ensuring that a mechanism through which issues of
sexual exploitation and abuse of refugees were reported and victims received
medical attention?
Have staff been documenting their experiences of mainstreaming gender and
sharing with others?
Is there anything that can and has been done to improve the gender balance among
staff?
What support did you receive from management to ensure that gender was
mainstreamed in all activities?
Is there anything more that you think management would have done?
Did you receive any support from HD?
If yes how would you rate the support and why?
If you were to be sent to another programme to do similar work what would you
suggest is done to ensure a greater impact?
Which other comments/ recommendation with regard to gender mainstreaming
and gender work and gender support would you like to make for future
emergencies?

Partners

What are the gender issues that your organisation is trying to address?
What systems are in place to help staff understand the importance of addressing
gender issues?
Do you collect gender -disaggregated during baseline, monitoring and
assessment? If yes do you use the information in planning your programs &
activities?
Do you think you have appropriate gender expertise within the organisation if not
what are you doing about this?

53
 What do you do to ensure that both men and women beneficiaries participate in
decision-making process in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
of projects and programmes?
Do you have any activities that challenge the gender inequality between men and
women for example the division of labour?
What is the representation of men and women in decision making positions in
your organisation and programmes ?
What do you think about Oxfams approach of working with men and women?
Which other comments/ recommendation with regard to Oxfams and your gender
mainstreaming and gender work and gender support would you like to make for
future emergencies?

54
 Appendix 5

END OF MISSION REPORT

Gender and Representation- Abeche, Eastern Chad

October 2004-April 2005

BY: Honorine Mwelwa-Muyoyeta

Gender Advisor
Oxfam Great Britain
Chad

55
1. Introduction

The conflict in Sudan has led to massive displacements of its people both internally
and externally. The number of refugees in the camps in Eastern Chad has been
increasing and it is becoming clear each day that the camps in existence are unable to
retain the numbers of refugees as they appear now. The fragility of the environment
and inaccessibility of the areas make it difficult too to identify, construct or manage
camps.

In such a situation, camps are crowed and which provides potential for several
problems such as lack of protection, inadequate food to meet the needs of all refugees,
crowed water points, long distances to fetch firewood- all these among several others
which make women and children vulnerable to sexual exploitation. It is against this
background that in May 2004 the Humanitarian Department recommended that a
Gender and Representation Advisor be deployed to Chad to ensure that gender is
mainstreamed in all the programme activities in Chad.

I arrived in Chad in October 2004 and since then Oxfam Great Britain has taken lead
in ensuring that gender is mainstreamed in all its work including getting the other
organisations working within the humanitarian sector in Chad to do the same. The
following report highlights the activities undertaken during my first mission of six
months from October 2004 to April 2005.

1.1.Overview of Gender Issues in Camps

Several reports and assessments have documented the status of gender issues in the
camps since the start of humanitarian work in Chad. The final mission report on
Gender and Gender Based Violence prepared by an UNHCR consultant gave a
detailed report of gender issues in camps. The Oxfam GB Protection Advisor then and
the Oxfam Gender and Representation Humanitarian Support personnel (HSP)
highlighted similar issues which ranged from lack of participation in decision making
structures to gender based violence. My observations are documented below:

Gender Based Violence

Several cases of gender based violence have been reported in the camps by refugees.
These range from rape, defilement, sexual harassment and beatings. The perpetrators
are usually men within the community and several women have spoken of attacks by
host communities on the way for firewood collection. For a long time there was no
system in place in the camps to access such information from the victims and to
ensure that offenders are punished. Recently, through the work of the Gender
Coordination Committee chaired by UNHCR, a Referral System for reporting cases of
gender based violence has been put in place. Though the majority of beneficiaries are
not using the referral system (for several reasons i.e. fear of being pursued by
perpetrators, difficulty in revealing information to men and lengthy documentation),
some cases have been reported and acted upon by the GBV Focal Persons in the
camps. The latest monthly report on GBV from camps recorded twenty (22) cases of
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) from five (5) cases in January this year.

56
Womens participation in decision-making
Lack of womens participation in decision-making structures has been a major
concern to several organisations working in the camps. Women are excluded from the
main committees where major decisions are made in the camps and often find
themselves recipients of decisions that are sometimes not in their favour. In one camp,
the main decision making Committee called Commitee de Sage is comprised of all
men and when asked why they were only men on this committee, the response was
that women had their own committee which brings their concerns to this committee
for action. Cultural, religious practices and beliefs prevents womens participation in
most activities and groupings in the camps. In a number of meetings, I observed that
womens participation was limited although they were present in large numbers they
were unable to speak. Occasionally they would whisper to a man who will then bring
out the issue to the audience.

Heavy workload of women

Women in the camps remain responsible for most domestic activities but this time in
new and unfamiliar surroundings. In the absence of male members, women assume
even further responsibilities as seen from their day to day tasks which includes
preparing food for the family, collecting water, queuing for food during distribution
and collecting firewood which involves several hours of walking and potentially
dangerous as they are at times attacked and sexually abused. Refugee men on the
other hand have difficulty in accepting the new environment especially their inability
to fully support their families. This loss of control has resulted in total withdraw,
usually exhibited by just sitting around and doing nothing, sleeping or socialising with
male colleagues, leaving most of the work to be done by women.

Access to Food
Many women complain of the inadequacy of food and especially the pregnant women
and those having smaller children in their households. Lack of food itself contributes
to malnutrition. During food distribution, women who are the ones in the majority
stay in the queue for several hours in the sun waiting for their turns to get their ration.
By the time they get it, they are tired and yet still have to ensure food is prepared for
the household.

Access to Appropriate Health Care

Refugee women and children face many health problems which are compounded by
poor sanitation, congestion and the mingling of animals and refugees in the camps.
Women as I mentioned earlier, bear the responsibility for all family chores including
looking after the sick in the household. Almost all the camps now have medical
facilities provided by NGOs in the health sector. The time for service provision
differs as some clinics only operate during the day. Women have expressed concern
as they claim to face a lot of difficulties when someone gets sick during the night. In
the case of pregnant women, they depend in such cases on the Traditional Birth
Attendants (TBAs).

57
2. Activities carried out within this period

Activities carried out from October 2004 to April 2005 included:

Training on the Code of Conduct

Gender Awareness and Analysis Training
Training on Gender Based Violence (GBV)
National Workshop on Gender Based Violence (GBV)
Gender sensitisation meetings
Monitoring visits

2.1. Training

2.1.1. Training on the Code of Conduct

Various categories of training sessions have been carried out with different target
groups. The training on the Code of Conduct targeted all staff in the programme in
Eastern Chad and was conducted between the period of November to December 2004.
Oxford requested me to give priority to this training during my mission following the
training I had undergone on the subject during my induction period in Oxford and
considering the urgency in all institutions working in the humanitarian sector to train
staff on the Code of Conduct.

The main objective of the training was to make staff understand the Code of Conduct,
its contents, application and placed emphasis on Oxfams Guidelines on Sexual
Conduct to prevent of sexual abuse and exploitation of beneficiaries. The one day
training followed the training module developed by Oxford which included review
and discussions on the contents of Oxfams Code of Conduct, the vulnerability of
refugees, guidelines on sexual conduct a presentation on National Laws was also
included.

The training was also expected to provide a forum for participants to make an input to
the developed module and to get clarification on the grey areas of the code of conduct.
Sharing of experiences and among staff was highly valued as most participants
realised they had a lot to learn from each other. The sessions included short
presentations by the facilitator (author of this report), group exercises, role-plays and
case studies. In one of the sessions two female Chadian lawyers made a presentation
on the common forms of violence against women in Chad and the laws of the country
in regard to such violence.

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The groups of staff trained are shown in the table below:

Area Attendance Total

Male Female
IRIBA
International 6 3 9
National 7 4 11
GUEREDA
National 8 2 10
BREIDGING
International 8 1 9
National 19 4 23
ABECHE
National 9 0 9

TOTAL 57 14 71

The total number of staff trained is 71 of which 57 are males and only 14 are females.
In addition to staff trained, thirty (35) other staff recruited on temporary basis were
also given a two (2) hours session on the contents of the Code of Conduct. These
included drivers, plumbers, electricians, water attendants and guards and were all
men. Difficulties were encountered for the international staff training in Abeche due
to the high mobility of staff such as R&R and field visits.

In all the training the process was very participatory and a lot of learning and sharing
took place. Participants asked pertinent questions especially those related to
guidelines on sexual conduct. Some of the key issues raised included the following:

Traditionally in Chad girls are married off as early as 13 years

The Code of Conduct should be drawn per country
Difficulties to remember all the issues in the Code of Conduct
Have good living conditions to avoid stress and being misguided
International staff to have knowledge of local laws
Need to be cultural sensitive i.e. acceptance of gift

All the issues raised were given time to be discussed and staff were reminded that as
long as they worked for Oxfam it was important and imperative for them to follow the
rules as there was Zero tolerance for those who did not follow the rules.
From the evaluation of the training done, most participants found the training very
useful as they did not really understand nor read the Code after signing it. They also
felt that the training was an opportunity for all of them to meet and get to know each
others views and concerns. Some of the national staff revealed that it was their first
time to attend a training session and that they felt greatly empowered.

59
Through the training, participants were also able to realise the gender imbalance in the
teams as in almost all the teams, the number of females was too low and raised
concern in the recruitment procedures. Even at this level, it was strongly
recommended that the Human Resource Department takes note of this gap and find
solutions to reduce the gender gap in the work place. An example to show the extreme
was seen in IRIBA during the training of international staff, there was no female staff
in the team during that period ( November 2004) and the situation has remained the
same to-date, an all male team in the Northern Axis.

2.1.2. Gender awareness and analysis training

Gender training was among the main interventions for staff and partners especially
those operating in the field and having direct interaction with the beneficiaries. The
training was therefore conducted for different categories of participants ranging from
technical staff, which included engineers, public health promoters, local and
international partners. The training forms part of the entry strategy to gender
mainstreaming as more people become aware and understand the importance of
gender, the more the process of gender mainstreaming will be become easier.

2.1.3. Training For Technical staff

This training targeted engineers and public health promoters in all the camps of
Oxfam has operations. In total fourteen (14) personnel of which only three (3) were
female went through the one day training. The main objective of the training was to
introduce to the subject of gender to staff and to impart knowledge to them on gender
mainstreaming in programmes so that they can ensure that gender issues are taken into
consideration as early as possible in their work. The following topics were covered
during the training:

What is gender
Main concepts
Importance of gender
Integrating gender in the project cycle
Oxfams policy on gender
Development of gender indicators
Monitoring and evaluation

The main emphasis throughout the training was the fact that staff need to ensure that
services that we provide to refugees should benefit both men, women, children and
those who are physically disadvantaged. Participants were also reminded on the need
to consult both men and women during the planning process. Reference was made to
the team which was currently starting to set up a new camp (Gaga) and were urged to
included both men and women in the discussions so that all views are taken into
consideration as the camp was being set up, especially issues concerning latrine
construction and water points among others.

The days training concluded with an exercise on the development of indicators with a
common format shown below which was adopted for monitoring gender
mainstreaming in the work being done in the camp. Data will be collected at the

60
month end and will be used to measure the levels of mainstreaming gender in the
programme.

61
 GENDER MAINSTREAMING INDICATORS

Objective: Gender is mainstreamed in all programme activities in Eastern Chad

Activity line Indicator Targets Comments

Sensitisation Number of women and men participating in 600- 60% women

sensitisation exercises during the month 40% men

Participation Number of women and men in charge of PHP 70% women

latrine cleaning kits 30% men

Decision Number of women and men heading PHP 60% women

making clusters 40% men

Representation Error! Not a valid link.represented in other 50%

committees within the camp representation on
other committees
Recruitment Number of male and female water attendants 50% women
recruited 50% men

Number of male and female animators 50% male

recruited in the organisation 50% female

Number of male and female staff in other 40% female

positions recruited during the period 60% male

Income Number of women and men involved in brick 70% women

generating making 30% men
activities
Error! Not a valid link.on site 70% men
30% Women

Response to Number of womens issues that are responded 2 issues (per

womens to by Oxfam during the period. month)
problems

62
Participants were also given a lot of reference materials and handouts on gender for
further reading.

In general the training was well received and participation was very encouraging and
participants requested that similar training should be done regularly in order to refresh
and increase the knowledge on gender. It is hoped that this will greatly improve the
participation of women in activities being carried out in the camps. Participants had
also an opportunity to share how they were already involving women in their day to
day tasks.

In Breidging camp, women are among those recruited to guard the water tanks.
Women work on the day shift while the men work on the night shift. They are paid
the same amount as men.

In Kounoungou camp, the contractor for latrine construction has been working on site
with women for the last one month. Women are recruited to make bricks while the
men are digging the holes and constructing the latrines. According to the contractor,
the women were making very good bricks and their speed was very impressive. He
has since increased the number from 150 to 400 women.

The women I talked to on both sites were very happy that they were given an
opportunity to earn some income as Farida Moustapha from Kounoungou camp said
to me:

Now I can go to the market on market day and buy vegetables, soap, and anything
to add to the ration that we receive. Before I just used to envy things in the market.
We are happy with what Oxfam is doing for us, especially women.

2.1.4. Gender training for SECADEV

Secadev has been Oxfams main local partner in the programme and therefore it was
important for them to be given them training in gender in order for them to start
taking into consideration the issues of gender in their work. The training took place in
two (2) camps where Secadev was working with Oxfam, namely Farchana and
Kounoungou. The topics for presentation and discussion included the following:

Definition of gender
Why gender is important
Common barriers in incorporating gender in programmes
Violence against women and causes
Secadevs Code of Conduct
Action plans

The two-day training was very involving as participants were taken through a lot of
exercises in groups, role places and case studies which had been collected from other
programmes in the humanitarian field. It was also obvious to notice that participants
felt free to discuss very pertinent traditional issues which they referred to as the major
hindrance to womens participation in the development processes. Participants in
Farchana debated for a long time the role played by religion in marginalizing women.
Traditions like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) were also discussed as a form of

63
violence against women and some male participants openly said they were not in
favour of the practice.

Forty eight (48) members of staff of Secadev of which (18) were female and (30)
males attended this training and among them we had:

Animators
Food distributors
Drivers
Camp managers
Logisticians
Supervisors

Both groups developed Action Plans at the end of the session on how they will
integrate gender in their work after the training. The assessment revealed that
participants were happy and appreciated the training. They also informed me that they
had wanted to have this training for a long time but they did not know where to get it.

2.1.5. Gender training for partners of UNHCR

The training on gender sensitisation for UNHCR partners was organised by UNHCR
in collaboration with OXFAM GB and UNICEF. The training which ran for three
days was attended by fifty three (53) participants out of which only eleven (11) were
women.

Since October 2005, Oxfam has been closely collaborating with UNHCR on gender
while UNHCR, through its Gender Officer, has been coordinating gender related
activities through a committee represented by NGOs and government institutions.
Oxfam GB, UNHCR and UNICEF have however been the only organisations with
specific activity plans on Gender Mainstreaming and Gender Based Violence.

It was therefore decided by the three organisations to conduct gender sensitisation

sessions for the other partners as a way of motivating them to start giving gender the
attention it deserves in programmes. The objective was to bring all partners of
UNHCR together for three days and to equip them with knowledge in gender and
gender based violence. The training also expected to get partners to start addressing
issues of gender in their work and programmes.

The three-day training was facilitated by the Gender Advisor of Oxfam, Gender
Officer at UNHCR and GBV Consultant for UNICEF. Participants to the training
were drawn from UN agencies, government officials, staff from development
agencies and local non-governmental organisations as shown in the table below:

64
 Day one Day 2 Day 3

Heads of programmes Administration/Logistics Government

departments

MSF NCA JUSTICE

JRS CORD EDUCATION
UNHCR UNHCR SECURITY
IRC CCF AU
WFP IMC
Oxfam ACTED
WCRWC WFP
AU

The training gave participants an understanding that gender matters as an

important variable in development and provided a basic framework and hands on
exercises for addressing considerations in humanitarian work.

The days agenda provided the rationale for addressing gender issues in
humanitarian work. It involved presentations on main themes which are mentioned
below:

o Defining gender
o Importance of gender in humanitarian work
o The difference between gender and sex
o Integrating gender in the project cycle
o Introducing Gender Based Violence
o Protection of Refugees
o The Referral System on Gender Based Violence in camps

The workshop formats were designed to optimise interaction and sharing of ideas and
experiences amongst participants. Participatory methodologies were used such as
short presentations, case studies were shared in small groups and reported and
commented on in plenary session. Short documentaries on gender analysis and
protection of refugees were used as well.

2.1.6. Gender awareness meetings in the camps

The meetings were held once a month in the camps with the womens committee
members. The main purpose of these meetings was to give an opportunity to women
to speak about issues of concern to them and to assist with the process problem
solving, mentoring and lobbying other NGOs on issues raised by women through the
Gender Coordinating meetings. Each meeting was also given a theme for discussion
and to date the following themes have been discussed with the groups:

Participation of women in decision making structures in the camps

Sanitary wear
Firewood collection and its vulnerability

65
 Provision of soap
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practice
Womens workload
The meaning of International Womens Day

It is important to note that women have shown great interest in these meetings and
usually prepare notes on questions they need to ask and get clarification. In this case,
my role has been to listen to the issues brought up and provide guidance where
possible. Other issues are taken to UNHCR through the Gender Coordination meeting
chaired by UNHCR.

In one meeting when we discussed the work done by women in the camp, women
used flip charts to draw pictures to show how they are so engaged in different duties
the whole day. In one group, they drew a picture of men sleeping while women were
collecting water, firewood and taking children to the health centre. When asked what
they thought of such situation they explained that for the time being the women will
have to continue to do the work in this way as the men did not think it was their
responsibility to do such type of work. They however acknowledged that it was unfair
and they also needed to rest. They requested that such meetings be held for men as
well.

2.1.7. National workshop on gender-based violence

The national workshop on gender-based violence (GBV) was held in Ndjamena from
16th-18th March 2005 in collaboration with Oxfam Intermon. The workshops main
objective was to provide a forum for policy makers in the country to start discussions
on gender based violence and hopefully lead to the process of policy formulation on
GBV. The workshop targeted senior government officials, traditional leaders,
members of civil society and the media.

The methodology of the workshop was highly participatory as participants were

worked in groups and made short presentations. The workshop was facilitated by 5
resource persons which included 2 lawyers, a medical doctor and Country
Representative of Oxfam Intermon and myself. Topics covered were:

An overview of Gender Based Violence in Chad

Presentation of findings on 2 studies on GBV
Presentation on common forms GBV in Zambia
Presentation on GBV in the camps
Showing of a documentary on sexual exploitation in refugee camps
(Guinee)
Presentation of Testimonies from victims of GBV in camps
Status of the law on GBV in Chad
Preparation of Action plans

Some highlights of the workshop discussions included:

The need for review of laws so that women are protected by the law

66
 Traditional practices should be reviewed as some of them are outdated and
harmful
Traditional leaders should take the lead in sensitisation on GBV
Programme on prevention of GBV should be popularised and the media
should take the lead in the campaign
Sensitisation programmes on GBV should target the rural areas as most
victims of GBV are women in the country side.
Education of the girl child should be encouraged in households

During this workshop a Task Force was set up to ensure that the Action Plans that
were drawn would be presented to the Ministry of Family and Social Action which
will coordinate the process of policy formulation.

Overall, a lot was learnt from both the participants and the resource persons and a lot
of ideas were generated. The impact of the workshop was discussed in the assessment
as most participants showed great interest to follow up the process until policy makers
give priority to this issues which has continued to affect the process of development
through marginalisation of women. The traditional leaders were very happy to be
involved in the discussions and they pledged to give their support in solving these
problems at least at the local level.

A full report of the workshop prepared by the workshop rapporteur is now available.

3. Promotional activities carried out

Posters

In conjunction with UNHCR, materials in the form of posters on gender-based

violence were developed and distributed to partners, business houses, NGOs and
public offices. The messages on the posters are all on the prevention of gender based
violence and carry some of the following messages:

Stop rapes. In prison all rapists

Do not reject her because she is a victim of abuse, she is our sister, mother and
child. The support of your community can help victims of gender-based
violence.
Protection is assuring that the rights are respected, practices and safeguarded
Let us take the girl child to school. We will all benefit.

All the messages are in the French language and there are discussions on having them
translated in Arabic language.

During International Womens Day, Oxfam distributed over 1,000 posters throughout
all the country. The main message on the poster was the theme of the day:

La femme, la famille, developpement durable (Woman, family, sustainable

development)

The posters are now seen in almost every office in Abeche and in the camps, these are
found almost everywhere.

67
T-Shirts and caps

The T-shirts and caps were part of the publicity materials distributed during the
international womens day. T-shirts and caps were given to partners working in the
camps, refugees groups, and staff of Oxfam in all the locations. It was just
breathtaking looking at all the different groups of people from different organisations
wearing our T shirts and caps. In one case in Kounoungou camp, all the men in the
Executive Committee removed their head scarves (turban) and put on the Oxfam caps.

Collection of pictures

During the period of this assignment, I have collected a lot of pictures which I am
currently putting together into an album. The pictures are taken during training,
meetings and some of the events that we have participated in such as the international
womens day.

I also discussed with UNHCR after the international womens day that we set up a
place in the camp where we can display the picture that we took during the
celebrations so that the refugees can also see themselves as part of our team.

4. Monitoring visits

Monitoring the implementation of gender in the programme was part of any visit to
the camps. It involved meeting with staff an partners and discussing the challenge
they face in the area of gender and ensuring. The visits have been a means of getting
feeding especially after the training on gender. Members of Secadev for instance
informed me recently that they have now included women in the distribution
committee and through this they are able to know the views of women on many issues
regarding food.

5. Gender Coordinating Committee

The Gender Coordinating Committee comprises of NGOs working in the

humanitarian sector and have programme that addresses issues of gender and
protection. To date UNHCR and Oxfam has been the most consistent members of the
committeee which is chaired by the Gender Officer of UNHCR. Representation on the
committee has however improved in the last three (3) months and several activities
have been undertaken. Some of the key outcomes of the committee are:

o Development of the Referral System of reporting GBV cases in the camps

o Successful preparations and launching of activities for the international
womens day
o Development of publicity materials on the prevention of gender based
violence.
o Joint Gender training for partners

The Committee has also been a forum for sharing information and materials that are
relevant to the nature of out work.

68
6. Issues and lessons learnt

1. There a lot of gender issues in the programme which needs a lot of attention and
priority. The issue of gender balancing the teams is very critical in the field because
Oxfam is taking the lead in gender mainstreaming, we should be therefore seen to be
doing what we are preaching. The situation in the field is too critical and visible that it
is difficult to defend. Currently in the north it is an all male team and has been this
way since the last female PHP left the country, in December last year. In Breidging,
there has been only one (1) female PHP until recently when one has joined the team
which will be operating in Gaga, the new camp, making it still an almost all male
team.

2. Training on the Code of Conduct has been appreciated a lot by staff who underwent
the training but there in some cases difficulties in getting all staff, especially
internationals mobilised for the training due to movements and some claiming they
have done this before. It is important to make staff understand at recruitment level
that the training is very important and must be taken by all staff without any
exceptions.

3. Having been to all the camps we are operating in and worked with the different
groups in these areas, spending more time in the camps with teams. And groups will
be more valued and creates an opportunity to get to know in depth the teams
challenges in their gender mainstreaming efforts. The same applies to womens
groups as women take a long time to open up and feel free to discuss issues.
Experience has also shown that the womens groups in Kounoungou and Amnabak
are much more easier to work with as compared to the groups in Farchana and
Breidging.

6.1. Recommendations

1. Future recruitments should consider gender balancing of teams critically especially

for the technical teams who are working with beneficiaries. Recognising the fact that
Chad is a difficult country to attract personnel, Oxfam as lead agency in gender
mainstreaming should still make an extra effort to address this issues.

2. Having concentrated a lot on training of teams and partners in the first part of the
mission, the next phase of should focus on monitoring of gender mainstreaming in the
programme and provide more practical support to the teams in the field.

3. More manuals and gender materials in French should be made available from
Oxford to Chad to ensure that partners have the reference materials in the language
they understand and use.

4. A comprehensive Plan of Action for the next part phase should be developed in
consultation with the gender team in Oxford prior to the start of the mission.

5. Collaboration with local organisations in the field of gender should be encouraged

to ensure there is sustainability and continuity of the work even after Oxfam leaves
Chad.

69
 Oxfam GB 2005

First published online by Oxfam GB in 2010.

This document is part of a collection of programme evaluations available from Oxfam GB in

accordance with its evaluation policy.

This document was originally written for internal accountability and learning purposes, rather
than for external publication. The information included was correct to the evaluators best
knowledge at the date the evaluation took place. The views expressed in this report are those
of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect Oxfams views.

The text may be used free of charge for the purposes of advocacy, campaigning, education,
and research, provided that the source is acknowledged in full. The copyright holder requests
that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any
other circumstances, or for reuse in other publications, or for translation or adaptation,
permission must be secured and a fee may be charged. Email publish@oxfam.org.uk

For further information on the issues raised in this document email phd@oxfam.org.uk

Oxfam is a registered charity in England and Wales (no 202918) and Scotland (SC 039042).
Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International.

www.oxfam.org.uk